Chandigarh

Chandigarh is a planned city at the foot of the Shivaliks, built because Lahore, Punjab's capital, went to Pakistan in 1947. ThePrint reports that Jawaharlal Nehru wanted a model city, Le Corbusier designed it, and building began in the early 1950s. The Tribune says the capital moved from Lahore to Shimla in 1947 and then to Chandigarh on 21 September 1953.

Key moments

• 1 November 1966: Section 4 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 made Chandigarh a Union Territory when Punjab was divided. Both Punjab and Haryana claimed it. ThePrint reports that Indira Gandhi made it a Union Territory as a temporary measure and indicated it would later go to Punjab; the Centre extended the shared status again in 1976.
• 1973 and 1978: the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. The 1978 text says Chandigarh, "originally raised as a Capital for Punjab", should be handed over to Punjab.
• 24 July 1985: the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. It included the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab in 1986, with Abohar and Fazilka going to Haryana. Sant Harchand Singh Longowal was assassinated on 20 August 1985. The Tribune says most of the accord's promises were never implemented.
• 31 August 1995: Chief Minister Beant Singh was killed in a bomb blast at the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. Constable Dilawar Singh Babbar was the suicide bomber. A special CBI court in Chandigarh convicted the back-up bomber, Balwant Singh Rajoana, on 27 July 2007 (Supreme Court, 2023) and sentenced him to death on 31 July (The Hindu, 31 July 2007).
• 7 January 2023: the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha began a permanent sit-in near YPS Chowk on the Mohali-Chandigarh border, demanding release of the Bandi Singhs. A year later The Tribune reported it still stood, with barricades on one side of the road.
• November 2025: a Parliament bulletin listed the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2025, to bring Chandigarh under Article 240, which lets the President make regulations for a Union Territory. Punjab's chief minister, the Akali Dal and the Congress opposed it. On 23 November the Home Ministry said no final decision had been taken and that it had no intention of presenting a bill in the winter session.

Who governs it. The Governor of Punjab has served as Administrator since 1984. In 2016 the Centre appointed an independent Administrator and reversed the decision within 24 hours after Parkash Singh Badal objected. Haryana's politicians, ThePrint reports, consider Chandigarh an inseparable part of Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh also claims a share of its land.