Andhra Pradesh Administrative Structure: Governor, Secretariat, Districts, Local Bodies and Commissions for APPSC and Police Exams

Questions on how the State is run look easy and are full of small traps. Who appoints the head of the Public Service Commission? Is the Lokayukta a constitutional body? Does the Chief Secretary belong to the State Public Service or to an All-India Service? Is a Swarna Gramam a local government? How many districts does the State have today, and which law renamed the village secretariats? Every one of these has a short, clean answer once the structure is in your head, and each tends to be framed in a way that rewards the memorised half-fact.

This guide gives that structure in one frame: the Governor and the executive; the Secretariat and departments; the services; the territorial units from district to village; the 2026 renaming of the village and ward secretariats; local bodies in outline; the judiciary; and the constitutional and statutory bodies that exams love, namely the State Election Commission, the Public Service Commission, the State Level Police Recruitment Board, the State Human Rights Commission, the Lokayukta and the Information Commission. It describes offices, never persons: office-holders change, and an exam about structure rewards the rule, not the name.

The panchayat and municipal ladder, the Panchayat Raj Act sections and the constitutional articles on local bodies are covered in depth in our AP polity and panchayati raj notes. This post does not repeat them; it places them in the larger picture. For the history behind the State's present shape, see the Reorganisation Act 2014 explainer and the district fact sheet. The Telugu version of this post is at ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ పరిపాలనా నిర్మాణం.

Time-sensitive facts carry "As on October 2026" and name the source. Where a count could not be confirmed from an official page it is labelled as reported, and the unverified items are listed at the end.

1. The big picture: three branches and three layers

The Constitution gives each State a legislature, an executive and a judiciary, with the Governor as the constitutional head of the State. It also creates bodies that are independent of the government of the day because their job is to be impartial: the Election Commission for local bodies, the Public Service Commission and the High Court. A third group of bodies, such as the Lokayukta, the Human Rights Commission and the Information Commission, are created by ordinary laws, not by the Constitution itself.

A useful way to sort any institution is to ask three questions. What is its source of authority, a constitutional article or a statute or a Government Order? Who appoints its head? And how can the head be removed? The answers decide how the question is likely to be framed. The table below sets the main institutions against the first two questions; later sections add detail.

Institution	Source of authority	Appointed by
Governor	Articles 153 to 161	President
Chief Minister	Article 164(1)	Governor
Council of Ministers	Articles 163 and 164	Governor, on the Chief Minister's advice
Advocate General	Article 165	Governor
High Court judges	Articles 214 to 231	President
District judges	Article 233	Governor, in consultation with the High Court
State Election Commissioner	Article 243K	Governor
Public Service Commission	Articles 315 to 323	Governor
Lokayukta, Human Rights Commission, Information Commission	Statutes	Governor, on a committee's recommendation

The three layers that matter administratively are the political executive (the Chief Minister and ministers), the permanent executive (the Secretariat, Heads of Departments and the services), and the field administration (the district, the division, the mandal and the village).

2. The Governor

The Constitution says there shall be a Governor for each State, and the same person may serve as Governor of two or more States (Article 153). The President appoints the Governor by warrant under hand and seal (Article 155). The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, for a term of five years from entering office, and continues until a successor enters office; the Governor may resign by writing to the President (Article 156). The executive power of the State is vested in the Governor and exercised directly or through subordinate officers (Article 154).

What the Governor does is easiest to remember in groups.

• Executive. Appoints the Chief Minister, and the other ministers on the Chief Minister's advice (Article 164). Appoints the Advocate General, who must be qualified to be a High Court judge and holds office during the Governor's pleasure (Article 165). Appoints the State Election Commissioner (Article 243K), the Chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission (Article 316), and the Lokayukta and the Chairperson and members of the Human Rights and Information Commissions under their Acts. Appoints district judges in consultation with the High Court (Article 233).
• Legislative. Summons and prorogues the Legislature and can dissolve the Assembly (Article 174). Addresses the Legislature (Articles 175 and 176). Gives assent to bills. Under Article 200 the Governor may assent, withhold assent, or reserve a bill for the President, and may return a non-money bill with a message for reconsideration; once a bill is passed again after return the Governor cannot withhold assent. The Governor must reserve a bill that would derogate from the powers of the High Court in a way that endangers its constitutional position.
• Ordinance-making. When the Legislature is not in session and immediate action is needed, the Governor may promulgate an ordinance under Article 213. It ceases to operate six weeks after the Legislature reassembles, or earlier if disapproved by a resolution. The 2026 renaming of the village secretariats began as an ordinance and was replaced by an Act, so the sequence is a good worked example (section 8).
• Other. Grants pardons and suspends or commutes sentences (Article 161), subject to the Constitution's limits for court-martial and death-sentence cases.

The relationship with the ministers is governed by Articles 163 and 167. The Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister aids and advises the Governor, except where the Constitution requires the Governor to act in his or her discretion, and the Governor's decision on whether a matter is in discretion is final. The courts cannot inquire into what advice the ministers gave. The Chief Minister has a duty to communicate to the Governor all Council decisions on administration and legislation proposals, to furnish information the Governor asks for, and, if the Governor requires, to place before the Council a matter that a single minister decided but the Council did not consider (Article 167).

A common exam trap is to say the Governor is elected, or that the Governor is appointed by the Chief Minister. Both are wrong; the President appoints the Governor.

3. The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers

The Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor, who then appoints the other ministers on the Chief Minister's advice (Article 164(1)). The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly (Article 164(2)), which means that the whole Council stands or falls together and that the Council must hold the confidence of the elected House, not of the Governor. A minister who is not a member of the Legislature must become one within six months.

Since the Ninety-first Amendment of 2003, the total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, cannot exceed fifteen per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly, subject to a minimum of twelve for small Assemblies (Article 164(1A)). With an Assembly of 175 members, fifteen per cent works out to 26.25, so the largest whole number of ministers is 26. Treat the arithmetic as a derived figure and state it as "about 26" if a question asks, because an exam setter will usually frame it as "fifteen per cent of the Assembly strength".

In practice ministers are grouped by rank, as Cabinet ministers and ministers of State, and portfolios are allocated by the Chief Minister through a notification issued by the Governor. This is a convention of working, not a distinction made in the Constitution's text. The Chief Minister is the link between the Council and the Governor, which is why Article 167 puts duties on that office specifically.

The Council of Ministers works through the Secretariat. A minister heads one or more departments as the political head, and a Secretary to Government, a civil servant, is the administrative head of each department. The distinction matters in exams: the minister decides policy, the Secretary advises and implements, and the Chief Secretary coordinates all the Secretaries.

4. The Legislature in brief

The State Legislature consists of the Governor and the Legislative Assembly, with a Legislative Council in the States that have one (Article 168). As on October 2026, Andhra Pradesh has a bicameral Legislature. The Reorganisation Act, 2014 fixed 175 members in the Assembly and, after the 2015 amendment, 58 in the Council, and the State sends 25 members to the Lok Sabha and 11 to the Rajya Sabha; see the seat table in the Reorganisation Act explainer. The Council's size is capped at one-third of the Assembly's, with a floor of 40, and one-third of 175 is 58 (Article 171). The Council is partly elected by local bodies (about one-third), by graduates (about one-twelfth), by teachers (about one-twelfth), by the Assembly's members (about one-third) and partly nominated by the Governor for expertise in literature, science, art, the cooperative movement and social service. All elected seats use proportional representation by the single transferable vote.

The Legislature enacts State laws on State-List and Concurrent-List subjects, controls the money through the budget, and holds the Council of Ministers to account. The next sections move to the part that exams test most: how the government actually works below the minister.

5. The Secretariat, departments and the Chief Secretary

The Secretariat is the office of the Council of Ministers in which policy is prepared and decisions are recorded. It is organised into departments, each with a Secretary to Government and, in larger departments, Principal Secretaries or Special Chief Secretaries above Secretaries. The Constitution says that all executive action is taken in the Governor's name and that the Governor makes rules for the convenient transaction of business (Article 166). In Andhra Pradesh these are the Andhra Pradesh Government Business Rules and the Secretariat Instructions. A departmental allocation of business published in 2024 listed 37 Secretariat departments; the number and the names change with each re-allocation of portfolios, so do not memorise a total.

The pattern of authority below the Secretariat is stable and worth learning as a ladder.

Level	Typical office	What it does
Secretariat	Department headed by a Secretary to Government	Policy, rules, budget proposals, legislation, supervision
Head of Department	Commissioner, Director or Director General	Implements policy through the field offices; often a recruiting authority
Region or zone	Regional Joint Director, Chief Engineer or similar	Supervises a group of districts
District	District-level officer of each department, with the Collector as coordinator	Delivers services, runs schemes
Mandal and village	Mandal-level officer, village functionary	Contact point for citizens

The distinction between a Secretariat department and a Head of Department is a regular objective question. The Secretariat department makes the policy; the Head of Department's office carries it out. The Presidential Order of 2025 reflects this distinction: it exempts posts in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, in offices of Heads of Departments, in special offices, in State-level offices and institutions, and police posts in a Commissionerate in the capital area from the local-cadre rules (see the local status and reservation guide and the South Coastal Andhra jobs guide for how that works).

The Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary is the senior-most civil servant of the State, the head of the Secretariat's administrative machinery and the principal adviser to the Chief Minister on Cabinet matters. The post is held by an officer of the Indian Administrative Service from the State cadre. The Chief Secretary coordinates departments, chairs inter-departmental committees and is the Government's signatory on many general orders. For example, the Government Order that reproduces the Schedule of the 2025 Presidential Order (G.O.Ms.No.54) was issued in the name of the Governor and signed by the Chief Secretary in that capacity. The Chief Secretary is not a constitutional office; the post exists by administrative convention and by the cadre rules. A frequent trap is to call the Chief Secretary a political appointee or the head of the State Public Service; the post is neither.

6. All-India Services and State Services

Article 312 lets Parliament create all-India services after the Rajya Sabha resolves, by two-thirds of the members present and voting, that it is in the national interest. The Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service are deemed to be services created under this article, and the Indian Forest Service was added later under the All India Services Act, 1951 framework. The officers are recruited by the Union through competitive examinations, allotted to State cadres, and serve both under the State and under the Union. The State Government cannot unilaterally change their conditions of service; the cadre rules and service rules are made by the Union under the Act.

The State services are different. Their members are recruited by the State, and the State's own rules govern their conditions of service, under Article 309 of the Constitution. They fall into several groups.

Group	Examples	Rules that govern
Gazetted State services	Deputy Collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Educational Officer, Assistant Commissioner of State Tax	Special Rules of each service
Subordinate services	Sub-Inspector of Police, Junior Engineer-level posts in departments	Subordinate service rules
Ministerial service	Junior Assistant, Senior Assistant, Superintendent	Andhra Pradesh Ministerial Service Rules, 1998
General subordinate service	Posts common to many departments	Andhra Pradesh General Subordinate Service Rules, 1995
Last grade service	Office subordinates and similar posts	Andhra Pradesh Last Grade Service Rules, 1992

The last three rows come from the Government Order that instructs Secretariat departments to organise posts under the 2025 Presidential Order, which names these three sets of general rules alongside the Special Rules. A Deputy Collector or a Deputy Superintendent of Police is a State Service officer recruited through the Public Service Commission (the Group-I route); the same officer can later be promoted into the IAS or IPS through the State's promotion quota, but that is a separate step with its own selection committee. A common exam trap is to say that the Group-I officer is an all-India Service officer at the point of recruitment. The recruitment route decides the service.

7. Territorial administration: district, division, mandal, village

The field administration has four steps below the State: district, revenue division, mandal and village. As on October 2026, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has 28 districts. The number was 13 after the 2014 bifurcation, 26 from 4 April 2022 and 28 from 31 December 2025, when Markapuram and Polavaram districts were notified, as set out in the district fact sheet. The reorganisation notified on 31 December 2025 took effect on the ground from 1 January 2026, and press reports say it created five new revenue divisions and moved mandals between districts.

Level	Head	Key facts for exams
District	District Collector and District Magistrate	Revenue head and coordinator of departments; separate from the Superintendent of Police
Revenue division	Revenue Divisional Officer, often a Sub-Collector or Deputy Collector	Supervises mandals; may act as a Sub-Divisional Magistrate
Mandal	Tahsildar, titled Mandal Revenue Officer	Land records, certificates, local revenue
Village	Village Revenue Officer in the revenue line; Swarna Gramam functionaries in the service line	Records and service delivery

Counts at each level are a place where aspirants get hurt, because they change by notification and sources disagree. A Wikipedia project that updated district articles in 2026 states that about 63 of 679 mandals moved to a different district, a figure it cites for the total of mandals, while another source describes the State as having 688 mandals after the restructuring. A widely quoted list of revenue divisions gives 79. None of these could be confirmed from a single official Gazette page, so treat all three totals as reported and expect an examiner to avoid them or to say which source. The safe numbers are the district count of 28 and the date of 31 December 2025. If a question states a count, use the source it names.

The Collector's role needs one sentence of precision. The Collector heads the district revenue administration and coordinates departments, while the Superintendent of Police heads the district police. The elected Zilla Parishad is a different body from the Collectorate, and its Chief Executive Officer is a different officer. This distinction is developed in the polity notes.

8. The 2026 renaming: Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu

The original statute is the Andhra Pradesh Grama Sachivalayams and Ward Sachivalayams (GSWS) Act, 2023 (Act 23 of 2023). The 2026 steps are a good example of how an ordinance becomes an Act, so learn them as a sequence.

Step	Date	What happened
Ordinance No. 2 of 2026	12 January 2026, Gazette 13 January 2026	Amended the 2023 Act while the Legislature was not in session
L.A. Bill No. 11 of 2026	Introduced 26 February 2026	Bill to replace the Ordinance
Act 17 of 2026	Governor's assent 2 April 2026, as recorded on this site	Amendment Act, deemed in force from 13 January 2026

The Gazette text of the Bill says that the words "Andhra Pradesh Grama Sachivalayams and Ward Sachivalayams (GSWS)" are replaced by "Andhra Pradesh Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu (SGSW)". The Village Secretariats and Ward Secretariats established under various Government Orders are renamed Swarna Gramam in rural areas and Swarna Wardu in urban areas and are deemed to have been organised under the Act. The department for monitoring them is called the Department of Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu (SGSW).

The Bill's text names the following components of the department: a Special Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary or Secretary to Government; a Commissioner or Director of Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu; the Director of the Andhra Pradesh State Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (APSIRDPR); the functionaries and the staff drafted to the department, with the staffing pattern consistent with Article 309; a District Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu Officer for each district office; and a Mandal Swarna Gramam Officer or Urban Swarna Wardu Officer at mandal and urban local body offices. The same Bill's statement says that the Government established 15,004 Village and Ward Secretariats under 2019 orders.

The point to retain is the nature of the office. A Swarna Gramam is a service-delivery office of the State Government. It is not a local government, it is not in Part IX of the Constitution, and it does not replace the Gram Panchayat. The elected authority is the Gram Panchayat; the Swarna Gramam is where its functionaries and the State's schemes meet citizens. The Panchayat Secretary guide and the VRO and VRA guide explain which department recruits which functionary.

9. Local bodies in outline

The constitutional framework is the 73rd and 74th Amendments, Parts IX and IXA. Rural local government has three tiers (Gram Panchayat, Mandal Parishad, Zilla Parishad), and urban local government has three types (Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council or Municipality, and Municipal Corporation). The Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 covers the rural tiers, and the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965 and the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporations Act, 1994 cover the urban ones, as set out in the polity notes.

The numbers are, again, labelled as reported. A 2026 summary of the State's local bodies puts the rural tiers at 26 Zilla Parishads, 676 Mandal Parishads and 13,351 Gram Panchayats, and the urban bodies at 123, made up of 17 municipal corporations, 88 municipalities and 18 nagar panchayats. These are from a secondary reference, and the Zilla Parishad count follows the 26-district framework of the Panchayat Raj Department's listings while the State now has 28 districts, so the figures should be checked on the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration portals before use. Two points are safe: Gram Panchayats are statutory units under the Panchayat Raj Act, and municipalities and corporations are outside that Act's application.

Article 243I requires the Governor to constitute a State Finance Commission, within a year of the 73rd Amendment and every fifth year after, to recommend how taxes are shared between the State and the panchayats, which taxes the panchayats may levy and how grants-in-aid should flow. The Governor must lay the recommendations and an explanatory memorandum before the Legislature. For the urban side, the Article 243Y mirror provision exists.

10. The judiciary

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh is the highest court in the State. After the 2014 bifurcation, a separate High Court for the State began functioning from 1 January 2019 with its principal seat at Amaravati. The sanctioned strength is reported as 37 judges, made up of 28 permanent and 9 additional judges, according to the High Court's Wikipedia page and press reports; check the High Court's own site for the present figure. High Court judges are appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, the Governor of the State and the Chief Justice of the High Court (Article 217).

Below the High Court, the subordinate judiciary consists of district courts and the courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction. District judges are appointed by the Governor in consultation with the High Court (Article 233); a person not already in government service must have been an advocate or pleader for at least seven years and be recommended by the High Court. The High Court controls district courts and courts subordinate to them (Article 235). Recruitment of civil judges and court staff is covered in the judicial service guide and the High Court Assistant guide.

An old exam trap involves the principal seat. The High Court's principal seat is Amaravati; the bench or the seat of any tribunal or commission is a separate matter that depends on a notification, so read the question's date.

11. Constitutional and statutory bodies

This section is the one most likely to produce objective questions. The table sets each body against its legal basis and its appointing authority; the paragraphs add traps.

Body	Legal basis	Appointing authority	Remove or term rule
State Election Commission	Article 243K (panchayats) and Article 243ZA (municipalities)	Governor appoints the State Election Commissioner	Removable only like a High Court judge
Public Service Commission (APPSC)	Articles 315 to 323	Governor appoints Chairman and members (Article 316)	Six years or age 62, no reappointment; removal by the President after Supreme Court report
State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB)	Government Order, administrative body	Government	Not a constitutional body
State Human Rights Commission	Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993	Governor, on a committee's recommendation	Statutory
Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta	Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1983	Governor, on a committee's recommendation	Statutory
State Information Commission	Right to Information Act, 2005	Governor, on a committee's recommendation	Statutory

State Election Commission

Article 243K vests the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all panchayat elections in a State Election Commission headed by a State Election Commissioner, whom the Governor appoints. The Commissioner cannot be removed except in the manner and on the grounds on which a High Court judge is removed. Article 243ZA gives the same commission charge of municipal elections. The State Election Commission is different from the Election Commission of India, which conducts elections to Parliament and State Legislatures under Article 324. For the Panchayat Raj Act provisions, such as the qualification of the Commissioner, see the polity notes.

Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission

The State Commission recruits for State services and advises on rules and discipline under Article 320. The Chairman and members are appointed by the Governor; about half the members must have held office under a government for at least ten years; members serve six years or until age 62, whichever is earlier, and cannot be reappointed (Article 316). Removal is by the President on the ground of misbehaviour after the Supreme Court, on a reference, reports that removal is justified (Article 317), apart from insolvency, outside paid work and infirmity. A reference source says the Commission was set up in 1956, has its headquarters at Vijayawada and consists of a Chairman and nine members; the number of members is fixed by the Governor under Article 318, so check it. The Commission's recruitment guides are the Group 1, 2, 3 and 4 comparison and the OTR registration guide.

State Level Police Recruitment Board

The Board recruits constables, Sub-Inspectors, firemen and warders through its own notifications. Its website listed notifications for Stipendiary Cadet Trainee constables, Sub-Inspectors, firemen, warders, scientific assistants and assistant public prosecutors, and a recent amendment of August 2025, and states that its head is a senior police officer. The Board is a recruitment body set up by the Government, not a Public Service Commission, and it is not mentioned in the Constitution. The exam trap here is to treat the Board as a constitutional body or to say that APPSC conducts constable recruitment. Our police recruitment 2026 update covers the current notifications.

State Human Rights Commission

It is created under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, which allows a State Commission to inquire into violations of human rights relating to subjects in the State and Concurrent Lists. Under the 2006 amendment, a State Commission has a chairperson and at least two members. The chairperson must be a retired Chief Justice or retired judge of a High Court, other members include a serving or retired High Court judge or a district judge with seven years of experience, and a person with human-rights experience. The Governor appoints on the recommendation of a committee headed by the Chief Minister, with the Speaker, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and the Council's presiding officer and opposition leader where a Council exists. A reference source reports that the Commission's temporary office has been in Kurnool since 2021, which is the sort of detail a question might use; verify before relying on it.

Lokayukta

The Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1983 created the State's ombudsman institution to inquire into allegations of administrative action and corruption against public servants. The Governor appoints the Lokayukta after consulting a committee. A reference source states that the institution functions from Kurnool and that eligibility was widened by an amendment to include retired Chief Justices and retired judges, and the polity notes record a 2024 amendment as Act 16 of 2024 in a legal database. The primary Gazette texts were not opened for this post, so treat the details of tenure and eligibility as "check the Act". The foundation, a 1983 Act, is safe.

State Information Commission

The Information Commission is created under Section 15 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It consists of a State Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten State Information Commissioners. The Governor appoints them on the recommendation of a committee headed by the Chief Minister, with the Leader of the Opposition and a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Chief Minister. They must be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance, and they cannot be MPs or MLAs, hold an office of profit, or be connected with a political party. A reference source gives the Commission's constitution date as 2 March 2006 and its office as Mangalagiri. The terms of office are set by rules and have been amended, so check them if a question asks.

Other bodies worth knowing

The State Finance Commission (Article 243I), the Advocate General (Article 165), the State Women's Commission, the State Commission for Backward Classes and the Electricity Regulatory Commission are also named in exams. For each, ask the same three questions: legal basis, appointing authority and removal. A commission that exists under a statute can be altered or wound up by amending that statute; a constitutional body needs a constitutional amendment.

12. How to answer an administrative-structure question

A four-step method works for most questions.

1. Identify the unit. Is the question about a constitutional office, a statutory body, a department, a service or a territorial unit? The category decides the rest.
2. Find the source of authority. A constitutional article, a statute, a Government Order or a convention. Questions often hide the answer in the source: a body created by a Government Order is not constitutional.
3. Check who appoints and who removes. Governor, President, Chief Minister or a committee. Most wrong options swap these.
4. Check the date. District counts, Act names and renamings are date-sensitive. Use the date in the question; as on October 2026 the district count is 28 and the village and ward secretariats are called Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu.

Worked examples

Example 1. "Who appoints the State Election Commissioner?" The Governor, under Article 243K. The wrong options will include the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Minister.

Example 2. "Is the State Level Police Recruitment Board a constitutional body?" No. It is an administrative recruitment body; the Public Service Commission is the constitutional one.

Example 3. "Under which Act were Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu named?" The GSWS Act, 2023, amended in 2026 (Act 17 of 2026), deemed in force from 13 January 2026, after Ordinance No. 2 of 2026.

Example 4. "A Deputy Superintendent of Police recruited through APPSC Group-I belongs to which service at the time of recruitment?" The State Police Service, a State service; the IPS can come later through promotion.

Example 5. "How many ministers can a 175-member Assembly have?" Fifteen per cent of 175 is 26.25, so up to 26, as derived from Article 164(1A).

13. Common exam traps

1. Saying the Governor is elected or appointed by the Chief Minister. The President appoints.
2. Treating the Lokayukta, the Human Rights Commission and the Information Commission as constitutional bodies. They are statutory.
3. Calling the Chief Secretary a minister, a political appointee or a constitutional officer.
4. Mixing the Secretariat department with the Head of Department's office.
5. Treating a Group-I officer as an All-India Service officer at recruitment.
6. Quoting 26 districts for a date after 31 December 2025, or 28 for a 2022 question.
7. Treating a Swarna Gramam as a local body or as a replacement for the Gram Panchayat.
8. Confusing the State Election Commission with the Election Commission of India.
9. Treating the SLPRB as a Public Service Commission.
10. Memorising counts of mandals, municipalities or departments without the source and date.

Key facts for exams

• The President appoints the Governor; five-year term at the President's pleasure (Articles 155 and 156).
• Ministers, including the Chief Minister, are capped at fifteen per cent of the Assembly (Article 164(1A)); for 175 members that is up to 26 as arithmetic. The Council is collectively responsible to the Assembly.
• The Assembly has 175 members, the Council 58, with 25 Lok Sabha and 11 Rajya Sabha seats (Reorganisation Act 2014 as amended in 2015).
• As on October 2026, the State has 28 districts; the last change was on 31 December 2025.
• The Governor can promulgate an ordinance when the Legislature is not in session (Article 213); it lapses six weeks after reassembly.
• Act 17 of 2026 renamed the secretariats Swarna Gramam and Swarna Wardu, deemed in force from 13 January 2026.
• A Swarna Gramam is a State service-delivery office, not a local body.
• The State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor under Article 243K and removable like a High Court judge.
• PSC members serve six years or until age 62 (Article 316).
• The High Court has functioned from Amaravati since 1 January 2019.
• Lokayukta (1983 Act), Human Rights Commission (1993 Act) and Information Commission (2005 Act) are statutory.

Ten practice questions

1. Who appoints the Governor of a State? a) Chief Minister b) President c) Chief Justice of the High Court d) Prime Minister Answer: b) President.

2. Under which Article is the number of ministers in a State capped at fifteen per cent of the Assembly? a) 163 b) 164(1A) c) 166 d) 167 Answer: b) 164(1A).

3. An ordinance promulgated by the Governor ceases to operate how long after the Legislature reassembles, unless disapproved earlier? a) Two weeks b) Four weeks c) Six weeks d) Six months Answer: c) Six weeks.

4. Which of these is a constitutional body? a) State Level Police Recruitment Board b) Lokayukta c) State Information Commission d) State Public Service Commission Answer: d) State Public Service Commission.

5. Who appoints the Chairman and members of a State Public Service Commission? a) President b) Governor c) Chief Minister d) Union Public Service Commission Answer: b) Governor.

6. Which Act created the office of the Lokayukta in Andhra Pradesh? a) Right to Information Act, 2005 b) Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 c) Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1983 d) Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 Answer: c) Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1983.

7. What does a Swarna Gramam represent? a) A Gram Panchayat b) A village-level service-delivery office of the State Government c) A Mandal Parishad d) A revenue division Answer: b) A village-level service-delivery office of the State Government.

8. From which date was the 2026 amendment that renamed the secretariats deemed to have come into force? a) 1 January 2026 b) 13 January 2026 c) 26 February 2026 d) 2 April 2026 Answer: b) 13 January 2026.

9. District judges are appointed by whom? a) President b) Chief Justice of India c) Governor in consultation with the High Court d) Chief Minister Answer: c) Governor in consultation with the High Court.

10. As on October 2026, how many districts does Andhra Pradesh have? a) 13 b) 26 c) 28 d) 29 Answer: c) 28.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Chief Secretary a constitutional post? No. It is a senior cadre post held by an IAS officer, with the duty of coordinating the Secretariat. The Constitution does not mention it.

How many Secretariat departments are there? A mid-2024 allocation of business listed 37. The number changes with each re-allocation, so check the latest list rather than memorising a figure.

Is the SLPRB the same as APPSC? No. APPSC is a constitutional Commission that recruits for State services. The SLPRB is a Government-created board that recruits police, fire and prison staff.

Who removes the State Election Commissioner? The Commissioner is removable only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a High Court judge (Article 243K).

Does a Swarna Gramam replace the Gram Panchayat? No. The Gram Panchayat is the elected local government. The Swarna Gramam is a State office through which services and schemes are delivered.

How many mandals does the State have? Sources differ (679 and 688 appear in reports) and counts changed with the 2025 reorganisation. Use the number in the question's source and its date.

Which body inquires into corruption complaints against public servants at the State level? The Lokayukta, created under the 1983 Act. Details of eligibility were amended later, so check the latest Act text.

Related reading

• AP polity and panchayati raj notes for APPSC and SI
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• AP district-wise fact sheet, 28 districts
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• APPSC Group 1, 2, 3 and 4 difference
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• Telugu version of this post

Practise on pareeksha.in

Structure questions reward repetition with dates and sources. Practise them in timed sets on the mock test page, alongside the state material in the Andhra Pradesh hub. The platform has 10 Lakh+ MCQs, 100+ Exams, 5,000+ Full-Length Mocks. Verify every count against the Gazette or the official portal before the exam.

Sources and verification

Pages opened for this post:

• Constitution of India, article pages: 153, 156, 163, 164, 165, 167, 171, 200, 213, 233, 243I, 243K, 312, 316 (constitutionofindia.net text of the articles).
• Andhra Pradesh Gazette Extraordinary of 26 February 2026, L.A. Bill No. 11 of 2026 (PRS Legislative Research copy), for the text of the renaming.
• G.O.Ms.No.54 of the General Administration (SPF and MC) Department, dated 14 May 2026, for the cadre classification, the exempt posts and the names of the general service rules.
• State Level Police Recruitment Board website (slprb.ap.gov.in), for the Board's notifications and head.
• Wikipedia pages on the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Public Service Commission, State Human Rights Commission, Information Commission and Lokayukta, and the 2026 districts-update project page, as cross-checks only; ETV Bharat report on the district reorganisation.
• Search summaries of the 2026 local-body figures, the Reorganisation Act's seat numbers and the Secretariat's departments (not opened as primary documents).
• Our own posts on polity and panchayati raj, the Reorganisation Act, the district fact sheet and the Sachivalayam guide, which were the base for the Act 17 of 2026 sequence and the Panchayat Raj provisions.

Not verified and hedged in the text: the Gazette copy of Act 17 of 2026 itself (the sequence is taken from the Bill, the Ordinance and our earlier posts; the 2 April 2026 assent date is as recorded there); the totals of revenue divisions, mandals and villages; the 2026 totals of Zilla Parishads, Mandal Parishads, Gram Panchayats, corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats; the present sanctioned strength of the High Court; the number of Public Service Commission members; the seats and offices of the Human Rights Commission, Lokayukta and Information Commission; the primary text of the Lokayukta Act and its amendments; the terms of the Information Commissioners; the number of Secretariat departments after 2024; the constitution of the SLPRB.