India is a country located in southern Asia. With over 1.2 billion people, India is the most populous democracy in the world. It is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories. All states, as well as the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments, both patterned on the Westminster model. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts.
The state and union territory capitals are sorted according to no legislative and judicial capitals. The administrative capital is where the executive government offices are located, the legislative capital is where the state assembly convenes, and the judicial capital is the location of the state or territorial High Courts. Union territories are marked with a dagger ().