Government of Punjab, India

History

In April 1952, the Punjab State Legislature consisted was bicameral, divided into a Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and Vidhan Parishad (upper house). In 1956, the Vidhan Parishad was expanded from forty to forty-six seats, further being expanded to fifty-one seats in 1957. After Punjab underwent trifurcation in 1966, its Vidhan Parishad was reduced to forty seats while its Vidhan Sabha was increased to 104 seats. On 1 January 1970, the state's legislature became unicameral with the abolishment of the Vidhan Parishad. The present legislature consists of 117 members whom are elected from 117 single-seat constituencies. The term for every legislative assembly in Punjab is five years unless the legislature dissolved earlier.

Legislative branch

The legislature comprises the governor and the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which is the highest political organ in the state. The governor has the power to summon the assembly or to close the same. All members of the legislative assembly are directly elected, normally once in every five years by the eligible voters who are above 18 years of age. The current assembly consists of 117 elected members. The elected members select one of its own members as its chairperson who is called the speaker of the assembly. The speaker is assisted by the deputy speaker who is also elected by the members. The conduct of a meeting in the house is the responsibility of the speaker.

The main function of the assembly is to pass laws and rules. Every bill passed by the house has to be finally approved by the governor before it becomes applicable.

The normal term of the legislative assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. In the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly, 94 members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party form the treasury benches. The main opposition party in the assembly is Indian National Congress with 14 seats. The other parties which are in opposition are the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and independents. AAP MLA, Kultar Singh Sandhwan was announced as the speaker of the assembly.

Incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took the oath of office on 16 March at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh. Inderbir Singh Nijjar took the oath as pro tem Speaker. On 17 March Nijjar administered the oath of office to all the 117 legislators of the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative assembly. Other 10 cabinet ministers of the Mann ministry, took oath on 19 March.

On 22 June 2022, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that the legislators will get answers on all issues that they raise during the Assembly debates. The answers would be provided during the Zero Hour. This was done for the first time in the history of Punjab Assembly.

Leaders

Judiciary

Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of judges of this High Court is 85, consisting of 64 Permanent Judges, including the Chief Justice, and 21 Additional Judges. As of 21 August 2026, there are 64 Judges working in the High Court, comprising 41 Permanent and 23 Additional Judges.

The court building is known as the Palace of Justice. Designed by Le Corbusier, it and several of his other works were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2016.

Departments and Agencies

• Departments of Government of Punjab, India
• Punjab Police

List of State Public Sector Undertakings

1. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited

Divisional administration

The state of Punjab has the following civil administrative set-up regarding subdivisional levels of governance:

1. Divisions (5) - headed by a Divisional Commissioner
2. Districts (23) - headed by a Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate
3. Sub-district level
   • Sub-divisions (93) - headed by a Sub Divisional Magistrate
   • Tehsils (93) - headed by a Tehsildar
   • Sub-tehsils (87) - headed by a Naib Tehsildar
   • Development blocks (150) - headed by a block development and panchayat officer (BDPO), an executive officer of Block Samiti, and chairman of the blocksamiti
4. Settlements, comprising of villages (12,581), towns, and cities, managed by panchayats (Panchayat samiti and Gram panchayat), improvement trusts, municipal corporations, etc.

Districts are officially divided among five administrative divisions: Faridkot, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Patiala, and Ropar. There are currently twenty-three districts in Punjab. Each district is under the administrative control of a Deputy Commissioner (DC), an IAS officer. The DC functions as the Collector for land revenue administration and as the District Magistrate (DM) for maintaining law and order in the district. The DC is assisted by Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) at collectorate. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner are also assisted by officers of the Punjab Civil Service and other state services. Policing for each district is the responsibility of a Senior Superintendent of Police who belongs to the Indian Police Service. Furthermore, each district has a division forest officer who is appointed from the Indian Forest Service to manage forests, wildlife, and the environment of the district, being assisted by officers belonging to the Punjab Forest Service and other environment-related officials. Also at the district level are district heads of the respective branch of the Public Works Department, Agriculture, Health, Education, and Animal Husbandry departments. These departments consist of officers who belong to various state services. The districts are subdivided into subdivisions and tehsils, headed by Sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs, selected from the State Civil Services/Punjab Civil Services) and Tehsildars (a revenue officer). As per Sunita Kaler, Punjab is a state in which there is little or no difference between tehsils and sub-divisions as they share the same boundaries as one another, unlike some other Indian states where these two terms refer to distinct administrative schemes. In India, the tehsil and talukas are important for land records and land revenue. The districts are subdivided into 93 tehsils, which have fiscal and administrative powers over settlements within their borders, including maintenance of local land records comes under the administrative control of a Tehsildar. Each Tehsil consists of blocks which are total 150 in number. Each block comprises of a block development and panchayat office (BDPO Office/BDO) and Block Samiti, headed by a block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) and executive officer of Block Samiti. Elected politically is a chairman of the blocksamiti. These blocks consist of Revenue Villages. There are total number of revenue villages in the state is 12,278.

There are 23 Zila Parishads, 136 Municipal Committees and 22 Improvement Trusts looking after 143 towns and 14 cities of Punjab. The local government institutions such as Panchayats looking after the governance of rural areas and municipalities looking after the governance of urban areas.