Delhi Political Structure

Delhi - A Union Territory with State powers or a State with a Union Territory tag?

Exploring its political structure before the upcoming 2025 Delhi elections.

Currently there are 8 UTs- Andaman & Nicobar (1956), Delhi (1956), Lakshadweep (1956), Puducherry (1962) , Chandigarh (1966), J&K (2019), Ladakh (2019) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (2020).

Today Delhi is infamously known for its poor AQI, women safety issues or ‘Tu jaanta hai mera baap kaun hai?’ In political debates its position is reiterated as the National Capital, rich in archaeological monuments and hosting G20 recently. Sometimes culturally referred to as the microcosm of India- due to the diversity of people in its heartland.

Today we will dissect the political structure of Delhi. Not with the view of AAP or BJP or Congress party’s lens but as an informed citizen of this country.

Difference

First, take a step back to understand the difference between a State and an Union Territory.

	State	Union Territory
Relationship with Centre	Federal	Unitary
Executive head	Governor	Administrator or Lieutenant Governor
Role of Executive head	Constitutional head of the state	An agent of the President
Parliament on state list (under ordinary circumstances)	Cannot make laws	Can make laws

Tabular form (used for comparative purpose only)

1. State- can make laws on subjects mentioned in the state list and the concurrent in the 7th schedule of the Constitution, while UTs (without LA) cannot.

2. States laws are made by the elected members (MLAs) while UTs laws are implemented by the Lt. Governor but made by the Union Government.

Difference between a UT with Legislative Assembly and a UT without Legislative Assembly

	Delhi	Chandigarh
Executive	Lt. Governor Chief Minister Council of Ministers	Administrator
Legislative	Directly elected Legislative Assembly	No Legislative Assembly
Judiciary	Separate High Court	Under Punjab and Haryana High Court

Tabular form (used for comparative purpose only)

1. UT with Legislative Assembly- in which elections are conducted- Eg. Delhi, Puducherry, J&K

2. UT without Legislative Assembly- no elections are conducted - execution of laws via Administrator

Historical background of Delhi

1. Article 239AA (69th constitutional amendment Act, 1991) changed Union Territory of Delhi to National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Administrator to Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

2. The Delhi Legislative Assembly has the power to legislate over subjects in the State List and the Concurrent List

3. However there are 3 exceptions to this- Public order, Police and Land. These are under the control of Union Government.

These exceptions are a bone of contention between the Union Government and the Delhi Government. This manifests itself into a constant tussle between Lt. Governor (sometimes known as the agent of the Central govt) and CM of Delhi (the elected govt executive).

Multiple instances of blockades

Example in 2018, the SC held that the Lt. Governor is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers for all matters where the Legislative Assembly has the power to make laws.

In order to overturn the SC's ruling, the central government enacted the GNCTD, 2021:

-requires the LG's 'opinion' on all executive actions

-review by the President if the bill 'incidentally' includes any topics outside the Assembly's authority.

In 2023, the SC upheld the Delhi government's powers to control civil servants and day-to-day administration of the NCT of Delhi.

Way forward

Every party and candidate wants to win elections. Because when it comes down to having a hold of power both want their fair share. But when it comes to taking responsibility for the deaths of 3 aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar of Delhi, the blame game begins.

So, next time when you see these unnecessary TV news debates before elections just laugh at fight and use this information whether the concerned subject is prerogative of the Union Government or UT Legislative Assembly.