Government and politics

Punjab Legislative Assembly building

Main articles: Politics of Punjab (India), Government of Punjab (India), Punjab Legislative Assembly and List of districts of Punjab (India)

Each of the states of India possesses a parliamentary system of government, with a ceremonial state Governor, appointed by thePresident of India on the advice of the central government. The head of government is an indirectly elected Chief Minister who is vested with most of the executive powers. The state legislature, the Vidhan Sabha, is the unicameral Punjab Legislative Assembly, with 117 members elected from single-seat constituencies. The capital of Punjab is Chandigarh, which also serves as the capital of Haryana and is thus administered separately as a Union Territory of India. The judicial branch of the state government is provided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh. The current Government was elected in the 2012 Assembly elections as the coalition of SAD and the BJP won 68 out of 117 Assemble seats and Prakash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal is the current Chief Minister.

The state of Punjab is divided into five administrative divisions and twenty-two districts.