Uttar Pradesh State Guide: History, Government, Elections, Exams

Overview

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is a state in northern India and the most populous state in the country. Census 2011 counted 199,812,341 people in it, which is roughly one in six Indians (our own division of the state figure by the national total). Its capital is Lucknow, and the High Court sits at Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), with a bench at Lucknow. The state lies mostly on the Ganga plain, with the Himalayan foothills and the Terai in the north and the edge of the Vindhyan plateau and Bundelkhand in the south. It shares an international border with Nepal in the north.

The state's official area is about 240,928 sq km, and it is the fourth-largest state by area. Some references, including Wikipedia, quote 243,286 sq km; the difference comes from different measurement bases, so use the figure your reference book uses. The present state came into being under that name on 24 January 1950, when the United Provinces was renamed Uttar Pradesh ("northern province"). It lost its hill districts to the new state of Uttarakhand on 9 November 2000.

As on October 2026, UP has 75 districts grouped into 18 divisions. It sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and 31 to the Rajya Sabha, and its Vidhan Sabha has 403 seats; the state also has a Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) of 100 seats. Hindi is the main language, with Urdu as an additional official language. The state is central to the story of India: the great cities of Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi and Prayagraj, the Buddhist sites of Sarnath and Kushinagar, the Mughal monuments at Agra and the centres of the 1857 revolt are all here.

For competitive exams, UP matters twice over. It is a high-weight topic in state recruitment exams (UPPSC, UPSSSC and the police and teacher boards), and it also appears in national exams because of its size, its river system and its role in Indian history. This guide covers the land and people in Part A. The sibling guides for neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan follow the same layout, so you can compare states side by side.

For exam preparation

• UP is the most populous state: 199,812,341 people (Census 2011).
• Renamed from United Provinces to Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950.
• Uttarakhand was carved out on 9 November 2000 (13 districts went with it).
• Capital: Lucknow. High Court: Prayagraj (Allahabad), with a bench at Lucknow.
• As on October 2026: 75 districts and 18 divisions; 80 Lok Sabha seats, 31 Rajya Sabha seats, 403 Vidhan Sabha seats, 100 Vidhan Parishad seats.

History

The area of Uttar Pradesh has been settled for thousands of years, and much of what Indians think of as early "Hindu", Buddhist and Jain tradition is rooted in its towns and rivers. This section runs from the early historic kingdoms to the 1857 revolt, the United Provinces, the freedom movement and the renaming of 1950. Dates for ancient periods are approximate and sources differ, so treat them as ranges.

Ancient period and the Mahajanapadas

Early Indian texts speak of the Ganga-Yamuna region as the heartland of the Vedic culture, with the Kuru and Panchala peoples associated with the western part of today's state. By about the sixth century BCE, the Buddhist and Jain texts list sixteen great states, the Mahajanapadas. Many reference works say that seven of these lay wholly or largely in present-day UP: Kashi (capital Varanasi), Kosala (capital Ayodhya and, later, Shravasti), Vatsa (capital Kaushambi), Panchala, Kuru, Surasena (capital Mathura) and Malla (with Kushinagar as one of its centres). The Kuru and Malla territories extended beyond the modern state, into Haryana and Bihar.

Varanasi has been a centre of learning and trade for well over two thousand years. Sarnath, close to Varanasi, is where the Buddha is traditionally held to have given his first sermon, and Kushinagar in the east is the place of his death (parinirvana). Kaushambi, near Prayagraj, was a busy trading town. Mathura grew into a major religious and artistic centre, and its sculpture school became important under the Kushans.

Magadha, which lay to the east in Bihar, eventually absorbed the smaller states, and the region came under the Maurya empire, whose rulers left inscribed pillars across the Gangetic plain (a polished Ashokan pillar capital from Sarnath is India's state emblem). Later the Kushan period, from about the first to third century CE, saw Mathura flourish. The Gupta empire (roughly the fourth to sixth century CE) used Prayagraj, called Prayaga at the time, and the surrounding region as one of its power centres; the Allahabad pillar inscription is a key source for that era.

Early medieval period

After the Guptas, Harshavardhana (reigned c. 606 to 647 CE) ruled a large kingdom from Kannauj, which stood on the Ganga in today's UP. Kannauj remained an imperial prize for centuries, and a long struggle for control of it between regional dynasties is often called the "tripartite struggle" in textbooks. The Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty held Kannauj for much of the period from the eighth to the early eleventh century. Other regional powers in the area included the Gahadavalas (who ruled from Kannauj and Varanasi in the later twelfth century) and the Chandela rulers of Bundelkhand, who are remembered for their temples at Mahoba and Khajuraho (the latter is in Madhya Pradesh). Not all of these dates have been separately verified for this guide, so check your syllabus book for exact reigns.

Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals

From 1206, the Delhi Sultanate extended its control over the Ganga plain, and towns like Jaunpur, Kannauj and Kara developed as provincial seats. Jaunpur became the capital of an independent sultanate in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, known for its mosque architecture. In the same period the Bhakti and Sufi movements shaped the region: Kabir, who is linked with Varanasi and the Maghar area, and Tulsidas, who composed the Awadhi Ramcharitmanas, belong to this tradition.

The Mughal empire, founded in 1526, made the Agra region its core for long periods. Akbar built a fortress at Agra and a new city at Fatehpur Sikri (near Agra), and Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built at Agra, work that is dated to roughly 1632 to 1653. Allahabad was named and developed under Akbar. The Mughal governors of the province of Awadh later became hereditary rulers, known as the Nawabs of Awadh, with their capital first at Faizabad and then Lucknow, which became known for its court culture, music, poetry and cuisine. Rohilkhand (around Bareilly) and Bundelkhand also had their own rulers in the eighteenth century.

The East India Company

The British East India Company gained its first firm foothold in the region after the Battle of Buxar in 1764, fought just across the Bihar border, which led to the Company taking control of Awadh's affairs and the Mughal emperor's revenue rights. Over the next decades the Company took territory through treaties and conquest. Wikipedia's timeline gives 1803 as the key year of British takeover of the Ganga-Yamuna doab after the defeat of the Marathas, and the creation of the "Ceded and Conquered Provinces" in 1807, renamed the North-Western Provinces in 1836. Awadh was kept as a separate subsidiary state until the Company annexed it in 1856, on the ground of alleged misgovernment, a step that angered many of the Company's soldiers, a large share of whom came from Awadh.

The Revolt of 1857

The Revolt of 1857 began among Indian soldiers (sepoys) of the Company's army and quickly became a wider rebellion. The first outbreak is dated to Meerut on 10 May 1857, and it spread to Delhi and across the state. In UP, the main centres were Kanpur (where Nana Sahib became a leader), Lucknow (where the Residency was besieged and Begum Hazrat Mahal led the resistance), Jhansi (associated with Rani Lakshmibai), and parts of Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand and Awadh. The British took back control in 1858. Wikipedia's timeline loosely dates the revolt to 1858; most textbooks give 1857 as the year of the revolt and 1858 as the year of its suppression.

After 1857 the Company's rule ended and the British Crown took over direct administration of India. In 1877 the office of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces and the Chief Commissioner of Oudh were combined, and in 1902 the combined territory was named the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, with Allahabad as the headquarters. In 1937 the official name was shortened to the United Provinces. Lucknow became the capital in the early 1920s (sources say "after 1921", and Wikipedia's timeline says 1920, so we avoid a precise year here). The province included three princely states: Rampur, Banaras (Benares) and Tehri-Garhwal, which were merged into it after independence. At the time of the 1902 merger it covered nine divisions and 48 districts.

Freedom movement

The United Provinces was one of the main centres of the national movement. Allahabad was the home of the Nehru family and a headquarters of the Indian National Congress's activity, and Lucknow hosted the 1916 Congress session, where the Congress and the Muslim League reached an agreement known as the Lucknow Pact (from general reference, not separately verified). The Non-Cooperation Movement was halted after the violence at Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur district) on 4 February 1922. The Kakori train action took place on 9 August 1925 near Lucknow and led to the trial and execution of Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri. Chandrashekhar Azad, a revolutionary based in Allahabad and Jhansi, died in 1931 in Alfred Park, Allahabad. Banaras, Allahabad and Aligarh were centres of student and political activity, and the Quit India Movement of 1942 saw strong participation in eastern districts such as Ballia.

In the 1937 provincial elections, the Congress won a majority in the United Provinces and formed a ministry; it resigned in 1939 over India's entry into the Second World War without consultation. The United Provinces also saw intense debate in the years before the 1947 partition, as the region had a large Muslim minority and was where many of the political arguments of the period were fought out.

After independence: renaming and reorganisation

When India became independent on 15 August 1947 the province continued as the United Provinces. When the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, it became a "Part A" state, and on 24 January 1950 the name was changed to Uttar Pradesh. Rampur, Banaras and Tehri-Garhwal were by then part of the state.

From the 1980s a demand for a separate hill state grew in the Kumaon and Garhwal districts, driven by distance from Lucknow, development gaps and forest and resource issues. It led to the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, and on 9 November 2000 Uttarakhand became the 27th state of the Union (first named Uttaranchal; renamed Uttarakhand on 1 January 2007). Thirteen districts moved: Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Dehradun, Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Champawat, Rudraprayag, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. After the split, UP's area is given as about 240,928 sq km.

For exam preparation

• Seven Mahajanapadas, including Kashi, Kosala, Vatsa, Panchala, Kuru, Surasena and Malla, are linked to present-day UP; the state emblem of India comes from the Sarnath lion capital.
• Sarnath: Buddha's first sermon; Kushinagar: Buddha's parinirvana.
• Harshavardhana (c. 606 to 647 CE) ruled from Kannauj.
• The Ceded and Conquered Provinces (1807) became the North-Western Provinces (1836); the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was formed in 1902.
• The Revolt of 1857 began at Meerut on 10 May 1857; Kanpur, Lucknow and Jhansi were major centres.
• Chauri Chaura: 4 February 1922. Kakori: 9 August 1925.
• United Provinces renamed Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950; Uttarakhand formed on 9 November 2000.

Geography

Uttar Pradesh lies in the north of India, roughly between 24 and 30.5 degrees north and 77 and 84.5 degrees east (approximate; the exact extremes were not verified). It is mostly flat alluvial plain, drained by the Ganga and its tributaries, and it has no coast. It is bounded on the north by Nepal and Uttarakhand, and borders Himachal Pradesh (a short stretch), Haryana and Delhi on the north-west, Rajasthan on the west, Madhya Pradesh on the south-west and south, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on the south-east, and Bihar on the east. In other words, UP touches eight states plus the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and one foreign country.

Physiography

The state is usually described in three or four broad regions.

Himalayan foothills and Terai. A narrow strip in the north, along the Nepal border and the Uttarakhand boundary, includes the low Shivalik foothills and the Terai, a damp belt of tall grass, forest and slow streams. This is where Dudhwa National Park and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve are located. The soil here is moist and fertile, and the area has been cleared for cultivation in many places.

Gangetic plain. The central part of the state is the great alluvial plain, nearly flat, with a gentle slope; one reference gives it as about 2 m per km (unverified). Its soils are deposited by rivers and are among the most productive in India. Within the plain geographers describe sub-regions such as the upper Ganga-Yamuna doab (the land between the two rivers) in the west, Rohilkhand to the north-west, Awadh in the centre and Purvanchal in the east. The old floodplain upland is called bhangar, while the newer floodplain of rivers is called khadar.

Vindhyan hills and Bundelkhand plateau. The south has an older landscape. Here the Vindhya range and the Bundelkhand upland (Jhansi, Lalitpur, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba and Jalaun) have harder rocks, thinner soil and less water. Sonbhadra in the south-east is part of the Vindhyan and Kaimur uplands and forms the state's main hilly and mineral zone.

Highest point. We did not find a reliably sourced highest point for UP, and it is better left unstated here. Do not assume the peaks that belong to Uttarakhand are part of UP, since they went to Uttarakhand in 2000.

Rivers

Rivers are the key to UP's geography. The Ganga flows across the state from north-west to south-east, and most of its tributaries come from the Himalaya in the north (Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara, Rapti) or from the peninsular plateau in the south (Chambal, Betwa, Ken, Son, via the Yamuna or directly). At Prayagraj, the Ganga and the Yamuna meet at the Triveni Sangam, where the invisible Saraswati is said to join them; this is a site of the Kumbh Mela. The table gives a summary. We have deliberately not given lengths, because published figures differ and we did not verify them.

River	Course in UP	Notes
Ganga	Enters from Uttarakhand in the north-west; flows through Bijnor, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia before entering Bihar	Main river of the state; Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj
Yamuna	Forms the western boundary with Haryana, flows through Mathura, Agra and Prayagraj	Joins the Ganga at Prayagraj; Taj Mahal stands on its bank at Agra
Ghaghara (Sarayu)	Comes from Nepal and flows through Bahraich, Barabanki, Ayodhya and Ballia	Its stretch at Ayodhya is called the Sarayu; joins the Ganga in Bihar
Gomti	Rises near Pilibhit and flows through Lucknow and Jaunpur	Joins the Ganga near Ghazipur; a Ganga tributary
Ramganga	Rises in Uttarakhand, flows through Bareilly and Kannauj area	Ganga tributary
Rapti	Comes from Nepal and flows past Gorakhpur	Known for floods in the east; joins the Ghaghara
Son	Southern tributary in Sonbhadra	Joins the Ganga in Bihar; Rihand reservoir (Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar) is on a tributary, the Rihand
Chambal, Betwa, Ken	South-western rivers	Join the Yamuna; Chambal is protected in the National Chambal Sanctuary, Betwa flows through Jhansi and Hamirpur, Ken through Banda

Wikipedia and general references agree that the Ganga-Yamuna confluence is at Prayagraj, and that the Gomti, Sarayu, Betwa and Ghaghara are among the major rivers. Details in the "Course" column beyond this are from general knowledge and were not individually checked against a map, so please check them against your source before using them as exam facts.

Climate

UP has a humid sub-tropical to tropical monsoon climate with three or four seasons, according to Wikipedia: winter from about October to February, summer from March to mid-June, and the monsoon from June to September. Average temperatures range from about 3 to 4 degrees Celsius in January to about 43 to 45 degrees in May and June. Rainfall decreases from east to west, so the eastern and Terai districts get more than the western and south-western districts. Winters bring fog in the plains, and the summer brings hot, dry winds called loo. The monsoon is the main rainy season. The state's flat land makes it prone to river floods in the east and drought in Bundelkhand.

Soils

The soil is mostly alluvial. Old alluvium (bhangar) is found on the uplands, and new alluvium (khadar) is found in the river valleys. The Terai has moist, humus-rich soil, and the southern plateau has red and black soils and gravelly uplands. In some places in the plain, salt-affected soil called usar (reh) lowers crop yields. This classification is standard in textbooks, but we did not link it to an official soil survey for UP.

Forests

Forest is a small share of UP's area. According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, as reported by secondary sources, the forest cover is 15,045.80 sq km, about 6.24 per cent of the state's area, and tree cover is 8,950.92 sq km (3.72 per cent), giving a combined figure of about 9.96 per cent. The same report is said to record an increase of 559 sq km in forest and tree cover, one of the largest in the country, and the largest tree cover by area among states. These figures come from secondary summaries, not from the report itself, so check the ISFR volume for UP before using them in print. Older references give 6.88 per cent, which is a different year's figure.

Minerals

UP is not a mineral-rich state; most of its mining is in the south, mainly in Sonbhadra and the Bundelkhand districts, where there are building stone, sand, limestone, bauxite and coal in the Sonbhadra-Singrauli belt. We have not verified quantitative reserve figures, so none are given here. The state's economic strength lies in its farmland and population rather than in minerals.

Wildlife and protected areas

Wikipedia lists one national park in the state, Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur Kheri district, and four tiger reserves, named below. It also lists 25 wildlife sanctuaries (the figure depends on the date and the list used). The state animal, state bird and state tree are commonly given as the swamp deer (barasingha), the sarus crane and the ashoka, but we did not verify these against the Forest Department, so they are left for you to confirm.

Area	Type	Notes
Dudhwa	National park and tiger reserve	Lakhimpur Kheri district; Terai grassland and sal forest; the tiger reserve includes the national park and two sanctuaries
Pilibhit	Tiger reserve	Pilibhit district
Amangarh	Tiger reserve	Bijnor district; buffer to Corbett (Uttarakhand)
Ranipur	Tiger reserve	Chitrakoot district; Bundelkhand
National Chambal	Wildlife sanctuary	Agra and Etawah districts; river sanctuary on the Chambal, noted for gharial
Katarniaghat	Wildlife sanctuary	Bahraich district
Chandra Prabha	Wildlife sanctuary	Chandauli district
Hastinapur	Wildlife sanctuary	Spread over more than one district
Bakhira, Nawabganj, Sandi, Sarsai Nawar	Bird or wetland sanctuaries	Sant Kabir Nagar, Unnao, Hardoi and Etawah districts (district names for Nawabganj, Sandi and Bakhira from general knowledge); several are Ramsar sites

The Ramsar list for UP was reported in a secondary source as 12 sites as on 2026. These are Upper Ganga River (designated 2005), six sites designated in 2019 (Nawabganj, Parvati Arga, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi bird sanctuaries and Sarsai Nawar Jheel), Sur Sarovar (2020), Haiderpur Wetland and Bakhira Sanctuary (2021), and two newer additions in 2026 (Patna and Shekha Jheel bird sanctuaries). Because the national Ramsar count changes, check the Ramsar Convention list or the Ministry of Environment before quoting this.

For exam preparation

• The three or four physical regions: Terai and foothills, Gangetic plain, Vindhyan plateau and Bundelkhand.
• The Ganga and Yamuna meet at Prayagraj (Triveni Sangam).
• UP borders eight states, Delhi and Nepal, which means no coast.
• UP has one national park (Dudhwa) and four tiger reserves (Dudhwa, Pilibhit, Amangarh, Ranipur), according to Wikipedia's list.
• Forest cover is only about 6 per cent of the area (ISFR 2023, reported as 6.24 per cent).
• Bhangar is old alluvium; khadar is new alluvium.
• The National Chambal Sanctuary is in Agra and Etawah districts.

Administration and districts

Uttar Pradesh is administered through 18 divisions and 75 districts, as on October 2026. Each division is headed by a Divisional Commissioner (an IAS officer) and each district by a District Magistrate, who is also the Collector. Districts are divided into tehsils and development blocks, and rural local government runs through the three-tier Panchayati Raj system, while cities are governed by municipal bodies. We describe the structure rather than the people who hold the posts.

Divisions

The 18 divisions are Agra, Aligarh, Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Basti, Chitrakoot, Devipatan, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Varanasi and Vindhyachal. This list is taken from Wikipedia's list of districts, read in October 2026. The Ayodhya and Prayagraj divisions carry names that replaced the older Faizabad and Allahabad, but we have not verified the dates of those renamings.

Districts table

The table below lists all 75 districts by division. Divisions are in the order above. We do not give the headquarters column, because the headquarters of most districts bears the district's own name and we did not verify each exception; see the note after the table.

Division	Districts
Agra	Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Mathura
Aligarh	Aligarh, Etah, Hathras, Kasganj
Ayodhya	Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Ayodhya, Barabanki, Sultanpur
Azamgarh	Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau
Bareilly	Bareilly, Budaun, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur
Basti	Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharthnagar
Chitrakoot	Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba
Devipatan	Bahraich, Balrampur, Gonda, Shravasti
Gorakhpur	Deoria, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj
Jhansi	Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur
Kanpur	Auraiya, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar
Lucknow	Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lucknow, Raebareli, Sitapur, Unnao
Meerut	Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut
Moradabad	Amroha, Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal
Prayagraj	Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Prayagraj
Saharanpur	Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli
Varanasi	Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Varanasi
Vindhyachal	Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra

Counting by division gives 4 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 75. The division of districts follows the source as read; the divisional grouping changes from time to time, so check the state's website before using it for a fine-grained question.

Headquarters note (not confirmed). In most cases the district headquarters is the town for which the district is named. Some districts are known to have a headquarters with a different name (for example, Lakhimpur Kheri has its headquarters at Lakhimpur, and Gautam Buddha Nagar is administered from the Noida area), but we did not verify the exceptions on official district pages, so we do not list them.

District facts from Census 2011

These facts are from a Wikipedia list of districts that cites Census 2011 and should be checked against the Census tables before use in print.

Fact	District	Figure
Most populous district	Prayagraj	5,954,391
Least populous district	Mahoba	875,958
Largest by area	Lakhimpur Kheri	7,680 sq km
Highest density	Lucknow	1,816 per sq km
Highest literacy	Gautam Buddha Nagar	80.12 per cent
Lowest literacy	Shravasti	46.74 per cent
Best sex ratio	Jaunpur	1,024
Lowest sex ratio	Gautam Buddha Nagar	851

Prayagraj was previously called Allahabad. Several large districts, such as Azamgarh (4,613,913), Sitapur (4,483,992), Lucknow (4,589,838), Kanpur Nagar (4,581,268), Bareilly (4,448,359) and Gorakhpur (4,440,895), had more than four million people each in 2011 according to the same source.

Formation of new districts

The number of districts has gone up many times since 1950 as large districts were split for easier administration. Wikipedia lists the most recent creations as Kasganj on 15 April 2008, Sambhal and Shamli on 3 May 2011 and Hapur on 28 September 2011. Before the Uttarakhand split, UP had many more districts; thirteen districts went to the new state in 2000. We could not verify the full chronology of intermediate additions, so none is stated.

In December 2024 a temporary "Maha Kumbh Mela district" was declared for the Prayagraj fair area (the report says on 2 December 2024), which for a time made a 76th district; as the list on Wikipedia now says, it has merged back, so the permanent count remains 75. We did not find a newly notified permanent district after 2011 in the sources opened, but the state can create districts by notification, so confirm on the state portal before an exam.

Urban and rural local bodies

Cities and towns are governed under the Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation), Nagar Palika Parishad (municipal council) and Nagar Panchayat (town panchayat) system, from the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Large cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi have Nagar Nigams. One search summary, citing 2018 data, gave 17 municipal corporations, 198 municipal councils and 437 town panchayats; these counts have since changed and we did not verify any current figure.

Panchayati Raj

Rural areas are governed by a three-tier system under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment: Gram Panchayat at village level, Kshetra Panchayat (block) in the middle and Zila Panchayat (district). The same 2018-data summary reported 59,163 gram panchayats, about 821 block panchayats, 350 tehsils and more than 107,000 villages; as these are 2018-era numbers from a secondary page, treat them as approximate and not as current. Elections to these bodies are conducted by the State Election Commission, and results and seat details are covered in Part B.

Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas

The Sixth Schedule applies only to parts of the north-east and does not apply to UP. Wikipedia and other sources we opened do not describe any Fifth Schedule (Scheduled Area) in UP, and we could not confirm one, so we leave it out. The state's tribal population is very small (see Demography), and the Scheduled Tribes live mainly in Sonbhadra and the Terai.

For exam preparation

• As on October 2026, UP has 75 districts and 18 divisions.
• The newest permanent districts on the list we read are Sambhal and Shamli (3 May 2011) and Hapur (28 September 2011); Kasganj dates to 2008.
• Prayagraj is the most populous district (Census 2011); Mahoba is the least populous.
• Lakhimpur Kheri is the largest district by area.
• Cities are governed through Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat; villages through Gram, Kshetra and Zila panchayats.
• No Sixth Schedule area exists in UP.

Demography

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India. The latest published census is still Census 2011, because Census 2027 has not been published, so every figure below is for 2011 unless another source is named. A 2011 base also means the numbers will be dated by the time you read this.

Census 2011 at a glance

Indicator	Figure
Population	199,812,341
Males	104,480,510
Females	95,331,831
Decadal growth, 2001 to 2011	about 20.1 per cent (sources give 20.09 and 20.23 per cent)
Density	829 persons per sq km
Sex ratio	912 females per 1,000 males
Child sex ratio (0 to 6 years)	902
Literacy (overall)	67.68 per cent
Male literacy	77.28 per cent
Female literacy	57.18 per cent
Urban population	22.27 per cent
Rural population	77.73 per cent

The figures come from a Census 2011 data page and a secondary summary of the provisional totals. Wikipedia pages give conflicting numbers for density (1,001 against 829) and literacy (70.69 per cent against 67.68 per cent); we used 829 and 67.68 because those match the Census-based page and an independent search summary. If you are asked for the Census density, 829 is the figure we recommend. Literacy of 78.2 per cent also appears for 2024 on Wikipedia, which is from a different survey and not from the Census; we do not use it here.

Languages

The Census records mother tongues. In 2011 Hindi was recorded as the mother tongue of about 80.16 per cent of people, Bhojpuri 10.93 per cent, Urdu 5.40 per cent and Awadhi 1.90 per cent, according to a Wikipedia summary of the Census. Many people who speak Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli or Kannauji in daily life are classed under Hindi in broad categories, so the figures depend on how the Census groups languages. Hindi in Devanagari is the official language, and Urdu has the status of an additional official language.

Religions

According to Census 2011 as summarised by Wikipedia, Hindus were 79.73 per cent of the population, Muslims 19.26 per cent, Sikhs 0.32 per cent, Jains 0.11 per cent, Buddhists 0.10 per cent and Christians 0.18 per cent.

Castes and tribes

Scheduled Castes (SC) numbered 41,357,608 in Census 2011, about 20.7 per cent of the state's population (the percentage is our own calculation). Scheduled Tribes (ST) numbered 1,134,273, which works out to about 0.57 per cent by our own calculation (one source quoted 0.47 per cent, so check the Census table). The Scheduled Tribes recorded include Tharu, Bhotia, Buksa (Bhoksa), Raji, Jaunsari, Gond, Kharwar, Saharya, Baiga, Agariya, Chero, Parahiya and a few others. The Tharu live in the Terai belt along the Nepal border, and the Gond and other groups are found in the east and in Sonbhadra. Counts of OBC and other castes are not published in Census 2011 and any figure for them is an estimate, so we do not give one.

Urbanisation

At 22.27 per cent urban, UP is much less urbanised than the country as a whole. Most people live in villages, and agriculture remains the main source of work. The most populous cities are in the western and central parts of the state; the Meerut division, which includes Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), is part of the National Capital Region (NCR), and Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi and Prayagraj are the other main urban centres. City-level rankings for 2011 were not verified.

Health and development

We have not opened the NFHS-5 state fact sheet or the UNDP or Planning Commission human development report for this section, so we do not state NFHS or HDI figures here. They will be added from an official source in the assembled page, or left out. The district literacy and sex ratio gaps (Gautam Buddha Nagar highest literacy and lowest sex ratio, Shravasti lowest literacy) show how uneven development is across the state.

For exam preparation

• Population (Census 2011): 199,812,341; density 829 per sq km.
• Sex ratio 912; child sex ratio 902 (Census 2011).
• Literacy 67.68 per cent (male 77.28, female 57.18).
• Urban share 22.27 per cent; rural 77.73 per cent.
• Hindi is the main language; Urdu is an additional official language.
• The state's Scheduled Tribe share is very small, with Tharu and Gond groups among them.
• Gautam Buddha Nagar has the highest district literacy; Shravasti has the lowest (as per the list read for this guide).

How the state is governed

Uttar Pradesh follows the same parliamentary pattern as every other Indian state, with one feature that few states share: a two-house legislature. This section describes the structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change often, so this guide does not list them; for the current Governor, Chief Minister, ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Chief Justice, use the official state portal and our current affairs pages. Past office-holders with completed tenures are listed in the history section below.

The executive

Office	Role	How filled
Governor	Constitutional head of the state; summons and prorogues the legislature, gives assent to bills, appoints the Chief Minister; also the ex-officio Chancellor of the state universities	Appointed by the President (Article 155), holds office during the President's pleasure and normally for five years; the list below has 25 entries since 26 January 1950, including acting and additional-charge holders
Chief Minister	Head of the government; leads the council of ministers	Leader of the party or alliance that commands a majority in the Vidhan Sabha, appointed by the Governor (Article 164)
Deputy Chief Minister	Senior minister; not a separate constitutional office	Named by the Chief Minister; the post has been used in recent governments
Council of ministers	Cabinet ministers and ministers of state who run the departments; collectively answerable to the Vidhan Sabha	Total capped at 15 per cent of the Assembly's strength (Article 164(1A)), which is 60 for a 403-seat House
Chief Secretary	Administrative head of the government and of the civil service	Senior IAS officer chosen by the government
Director General of Police	Head of the state police	IPS officer, selected under the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh guidelines
Advocate General	Chief legal adviser to the government	Appointed by the Governor (Article 165)

The Governor's residence is in Lucknow, and the state secretariat is also there. Lucknow is the capital and the seat of the legislature and government, while the principal seat of the High Court is at Prayagraj. Lucknow replaced Allahabad as the capital in the early 1920s; sources differ on the exact year, so none is given here.

Departments and districts

Each government department is headed by a minister, and the day-to-day administrative head is an Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary or Secretary, usually an IAS officer. Wikipedia's page on the state government counts 53 ministries or departments. In the field, the state has 75 districts in 18 divisions as on October 2026 (see Administration and districts above), each district run by a District Magistrate who is also the Collector.

Constitutional and statutory bodies

• UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC), created on 1 April 1937 and based in Prayagraj, recruits officers to the state's higher services.
• State Election Commission, set up on 23 April 1994 after the 73rd and 74th Amendments, runs panchayat and municipal elections under Article 243K. The Election Commission of India runs Assembly and Parliamentary polls through the Chief Electoral Officer.
• The State Finance Commission, State Information Commission and State Human Rights Commission are the other standard statutory or constitutional bodies.
• Lokayukta: Maharashtra set up the first Lokayukta in 1971, and Uttar Pradesh was among the early states to follow. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 later required every state to have one.

For exam preparation

• The Governor is appointed by the President; the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.
• The council of ministers is capped at 15 per cent of the House, which is 60 members for 403 seats (Article 164(1A), 91st Amendment).
• Article 165 covers the Advocate General and Articles 153 to 167 cover the Governor and the state executive.
• Lucknow is the capital; the High Court's principal seat is Prayagraj, with a permanent bench at Lucknow.
• UPPSC (Prayagraj, 1937) recruits state officers; the State Election Commission (1994) runs local-body elections.

Legislature, Parliament and judiciary

Uttar Pradesh has a bicameral legislature: a 403-member Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and a 100-member Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). It sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and 31 to the Rajya Sabha. It is one of six states with a Legislative Council (the others are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra).

Vidhan Sabha

The Assembly meets in the Vidhan Bhavan, Lucknow. The first Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces was constituted on 1 April 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935, with 228 members. After the first general election under the Constitution, the new House met on 19 May 1952. Its size was set at 403 by the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, which cut the House from 425 seats when the hill districts became Uttarakhand. The House also had one nominated Anglo-Indian member until Parliament ended that provision in 2020 (104th Amendment).

Members are elected by first-past-the-post voting for five years. Of the 403 seats, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 2 for Scheduled Tribes (Obra and Duddhi, as listed in the 2022 results) and the remaining 317 are General.

Party or alliance	Seats won, 2022 election
Bharatiya Janata Party	255
Apna Dal (Sonelal)	12
NISHAD Party	6
NDA total	273
Samajwadi Party	111
Rashtriya Lok Dal	8
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party	6
SP-led alliance total	125
Indian National Congress	2
Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik)	2
Bahujan Samaj Party	1
Total	403

These are the March 2022 results, not the live position, which has moved through by-elections, defections and vacancies; check the Assembly website for it. The next general election is due in 2027.

Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council)

The Council is a permanent House: it is never dissolved, and one-third of its members retire every second year, so each member serves six years. The Council has 100 members (it had 108 before 2000, and 60 when it was created in 1937 under the 1935 Act). A state can create a Council under Article 169, and the Constitution (Article 171) caps its size at one-third of the Assembly and fixes the shares. In Uttar Pradesh the 100 seats are filled as follows:

Source	Seats	How chosen
Members of the Legislative Assembly	38	MLAs vote by single transferable vote
Local authorities	36	Elected by members of municipal and panchayat bodies
Graduates	8	Registered graduates of at least three years' standing
Teachers	8	Teachers of secondary schools and above
Nominated	10	Governor nominates people with special knowledge or service in literature, science, art, cooperation or social service

The Council elects its own Chairman and Deputy Chairman. It is the weaker House: it cannot reject a money bill, and the Assembly can override its objections to ordinary bills after the delay set in Articles 197 and 198.

Rajya Sabha

Uttar Pradesh has 31 Rajya Sabha seats, the most of any state. Members are elected by the MLAs through the single transferable vote, for six years, and one-third of the seats fall due every two years: the 31 seats are spread across 2026 (10 seats), 2028 (11) and 2030 (10). Because the electorate is the Assembly, the party position in the Rajya Sabha reflects the Assembly's, with a lag.

Lok Sabha

The state has 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, down from 85 before Uttarakhand was separated. Of these, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and none for Scheduled Tribes. The 17 SC constituencies are:

Region	SC-reserved constituencies
West and Rohilkhand	Nagina, Bulandshahr, Hathras, Agra, Shahjahanpur
Awadh and centre	Hardoi, Misrikh, Mohanlalganj, Barabanki, Bahraich
Doab and south	Etawah, Jalaun, Kaushambi
East	Bansgaon, Lalganj, Machhlishahr, Robertsganj

High Court and other bodies

The Allahabad High Court was established on 17 March 1866 as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra, moved to Allahabad in 1875 and took its present name in 1919. The Oudh Chief Court at Lucknow, created in 1925, was merged into it on 25 February 1948. Today the court sits at Prayagraj (the former Allahabad) with a permanent bench at Lucknow. Its sanctioned strength is 160 judges (120 permanent and 40 additional), the highest of any High Court in India. When Uttarakhand was formed, the Uttarakhand High Court took over its districts on 9 November 2000. A demand for a bench at Meerut, for the western districts, has been raised for many years.

Below the High Court are district and sessions courts in each district (a District Judge heads each), family courts and special courts. The subordinate service has a civil judicial service (Civil Judges) and a higher judicial service. The State Election Commission runs local-body elections, and the Lokayukta handles complaints against public servants.

For exam preparation

• The Vidhan Sabha has 403 seats: 317 General, 84 SC and 2 ST.
• The Vidhan Parishad has 100 members: 38 chosen by MLAs, 36 by local authorities, 8 by graduates, 8 by teachers and 10 nominated by the Governor.
• Uttar Pradesh has 31 Rajya Sabha seats and 80 Lok Sabha seats, of which 17 are SC and none ST.
• The Allahabad High Court dates from 17 March 1866; its principal seat is Prayagraj and it has a permanent bench at Lucknow.
• Its sanctioned strength of 160 is the highest in India.

Elections

Uttar Pradesh has held 18 general elections to its Legislative Assembly since the first in 1951-52, most recently in February and March 2022. The state moved from a long period of Congress dominance, through the coalition and President's Rule years of the 1960s to 1990s, to a run in which the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and BJP each formed single-party governments after 2007. Figures below come from Wikipedia's election pages, which cite Election Commission of India (ECI) data; the ECI's own statistical reports could not be opened for this guide, so small differences (especially in turnout) are possible.

Vidhan Sabha elections, 1989 to 2022

Cells show seats won, with vote share in brackets where available. A dash means the party did not exist or did not win seats.

Year	Turnout	BJP	SP	BSP	INC	Other notable	Government formed
1989	51.43%	57 (11.61%)	-	13 (9.41%)	94 (27.90%)	Janata Dal 208 (29.71%)	Janata Dal
1991	not confirmed	221 (31.45%)	-	12 (9.44%)	46 (about 17.3%)	JD 92 (18.84%), JP 34 (12.52%)	BJP
1993	57.13%	177 (33.30%)	109 (17.94%)	67 (11.12%)	28	JD 27	SP with BSP support
1996	55.73%	174 (32.52%)	110 (21.80%)	67 (19.64%)	33 (8.35%)	JD 7	Hung House, President's Rule, then BSP and BJP in turn
2002	53.80%	88 (20.08%)	143 (25.37%)	98 (23.06%)	25 (8.96%)	RLD 14	BSP (May 2002), then SP (Aug 2003)
2007	45.96%	51 (16.97%)	97 (25.43%)	206 (30.43%)	22 (8.61%)	RLD 10	BSP
2012	59.40%	47 (15.00%)	224 (29.15%)	80 (25.91%)	28 (11.63%)	RLD 9	SP
2017	61.24%	312 (39.67%)	47 (21.82%)	19 (22.23%)	7 (6.25%)	AD(S) 9, SBSP 4	BJP
2022	61.03%	255 (41.29%)	111 (32.06%)	1 (12.88%)	2 (2.33%)	AD(S) 12, RLD 8, SBSP 6, NISHAD 6	BJP

Notes on the table. The House had 425 seats up to 1996 and 403 from 2002. Wikipedia's 1991 page repeats the 1993 turnout figure, which looks like a copying error, so 1991 turnout is left unconfirmed; its seat list totals 419 rather than 425, and the 1993 list totals 422, so some small-party and independent seats are not shown. In 1993 the SP and BSP fought as allies, which is why their vote shares look low. For 2007, Wikipedia's results table prints the SP share as 24.43 per cent, but its infobox and the raw vote count (1.33 crore of 5.22 crore) give 25.43, which is used here.

Earlier elections, 1951-52 to 1985

Year	Seats	Largest party (seats)	Second party (seats)	Turnout	Note
1951-52	430	INC 388	Socialist Party 20	38.01%	First general election; Congress took 47.93% of votes
1957	430	INC 286	PSP 44	44.77%
1962	430	INC 249	Jan Sangh 49	51.44%
1967	425	INC 199	Jan Sangh 98	54.55%	Congress short of a majority; a coalition formed
1969	425	INC 211	BKD 98	54.06%	Held after a year of President's Rule
1974	424	INC 215	BKD 106	56.91%
1977	425	Janata Party 352	INC 47	46.14%	Post-Emergency sweep
1980	425	INC 309	Janata Party (Secular) 59	not confirmed
1985	425	INC 269	Lok Dal 84	45.64%	Last Congress majority in the state

Seat counts for 1951 to 1985 are from Wikipedia's election overview and individual pages. Wikipedia's 1980 page shows two inconsistent turnout figures, so none is given.

The three most recent elections

2012. The SP won 224 of 403 seats with 29.15 per cent of the vote, a gain of 127 seats, while the BSP fell from 206 to 80 seats (25.91 per cent). The BJP won 47 seats and the Congress 28. Polling was in seven phases from 8 February to 3 March 2012, with counting on 6 March. Turnout of 59.40 per cent was 13.44 percentage points above 2007. The SP leader was sworn in as Chief Minister on 15 March 2012.

2017. The BJP won 312 seats (39.67 per cent), and with its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) 9 and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party 4 the NDA reached 325. The SP, in alliance with the Congress, won 47 and 7 seats (54 together); the BSP won 19. The BSP's vote share (22.23 per cent) was slightly higher than the SP's (21.82 per cent), though it won far fewer seats. There were 14,16,63,646 registered electors. Voting ran in seven phases from 11 February to 8 March 2017, with counting on 11 March; turnout was 61.24 per cent and NOTA took 0.87 per cent. The new government was sworn in on 19 March 2017.

2022. The BJP won 255 seats (41.29 per cent), 57 fewer than in 2017, and with Apna Dal (Sonelal) 12 and NISHAD 6 the NDA had 273. The SP rose from 47 to 111 seats and 32.06 per cent, and its alliance (with the RLD 8 and SBSP 6) reached 125. The BSP, which contested all 403 seats, won one seat and 12.88 per cent, a fall of 9.35 percentage points. The Congress won 2 seats with 2.33 per cent of votes; AIMIM contested 94 seats and the AAP 349, and neither won any. Voting was in seven phases from 10 February to 7 March 2022 and counting on 10 March. Turnout was 61.03 per cent of 15,12,46,168 electors, and NOTA took 0.69 per cent. The narrowest margin in Wikipedia's constituency table was 203 votes (Dhampur). The Chief Minister took the oath on 25 March 2022, making the BJP the first party since the Congress in 1985 to be returned to government in Uttar Pradesh, from the table above.

Earlier turning points

The Janata Dal won in 1989 with 208 seats, and the BJP, with 221, formed its first government in 1991. The 1993 election came after a year of President's Rule that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on 6 December 1992; the SP and BSP fought together and the SP leader became Chief Minister. The 1996 House was hung and, after another long spell of President's Rule, the BJP and BSP shared power on a rotation, with the BSP leader holding the post from 21 March to 21 September 1997 and the BJP leader taking over on 21 September 1997. The 2002 election was again hung; the BSP led a government from 3 May 2002, and the SP took over on 29 August 2003. In 2007 the BSP won 206 seats, the first single-party majority since 1991 and a result that opinion and exit polls had underestimated.

Lok Sabha elections

Uttar Pradesh sent 85 members to the Lok Sabha until 1999 (86 in the first three Houses) and 80 since 2004. Congress won 81 of 86 seats in 1951-52 and 83 of 85 in 1984, the Janata Party won all 85 seats in 1977, and the Janata Dal won 54 in 1989 (all from Wikipedia's overview). The BJP rose in the 1990s with 51 seats in 1991 and 52 in 1996, and from 2004 the figures below can be compared directly.

Year	Turnout	BJP	SP	BSP	INC	Others
2004	48.16%	10 (22.17%)	35 (26.74%)	19 (24.67%)	9 (12.04%)	RLD 3, JD(U) 1, NLP 1, SJP(R) 1, Ind 1
2009	47.79%	10 (17.50%)	23 (23.26%)	20 (27.42%)	21 (18.25%)	RLD 5, Ind 1
2014	58.44%	71 (42.63%)	5 (22.18%)	0 (19.62%)	2 (7.47%)	Apna Dal 2
2019	59.21%	62 (49.98%)	5 (18.11%)	10 (19.43%)	1 (6.36%)	AD(S) 2
2024	56.99%	33 (41.37%)	37 (33.59%)	0 (9.39%)	6 (9.46%)	RLD 2, AD(S) 1, ASP(KR) 1

Seats are from the Wikipedia result tables; shares are percentages of all votes polled including NOTA, as those tables show them. In 2019 the SP, BSP and RLD fought as an alliance and won 15 seats between them (SP 5, BSP 10, RLD 0); the NDA won 64. In 2024 the SP-Congress combination ("INDIA") won 43 seats to the NDA's 36, with one seat going to the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram); the NDA's vote share was 43.69 per cent against 43.52 per cent for the opposition alliance. The 2014 result was the first time since 1984 that a single party won more than 70 seats, and the BSP won no seat in that year. The 2024 election ran in all seven phases, from 19 April to 1 June, with counting on 4 June.

By-elections

By-elections arise from deaths, resignations, disqualification, or an MLA winning a Lok Sabha seat. A few from the 18th Assembly, drawn from Wikipedia's member lists:

Date	Seat or seats	Result
2022	Rampur (Lok Sabha)	BJP won
December 2022	Rampur (Assembly)	BJP won
2023	Suar and Chhanbey	Apna Dal (Sonelal) won both
2023	Ghosi	SP won
13 May 2024	Dadraul, Lucknow East, Gainsari, Duddhi	BJP 2, SP 2
20 November 2024	Nine seats (Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Sishamau, Phulpur, Katehari, Majhawan)	BJP 6, SP 2, RLD 1
8 February 2025	Milkipur	BJP won

Three of the May 2024 vacancies followed deaths, one (Duddhi) a disqualification in December 2023; in November, Sishamau followed a disqualification after a conviction, Meerapur and Phulpur followed MLAs winning Lok Sabha seats, and the other reasons were not individually checked. The NDA won 9 of the 13 seats in 2024.

Municipal and panchayat elections

Elections to urban and rural local bodies are run by the State Election Commission, not the ECI. The urban local body (ULB) elections of 4 and 11 May 2023 covered 760 bodies, with results on 13 May.

Body	Heads elected	BJP	SP	BSP	INC	AAP	Other	Independent
Nagar Nigam (municipal corporation, mayor)	17	17	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nagar Palika Parishad (chairperson)	199	89	35	16	4	3	11	41
Nagar Panchayat (chairperson)	544	191	79	37	14	6	22	195
All bodies	760	297	114	53	18	9

The BJP won all 17 mayoral posts. In the 1,420 corporation wards it won 813, the SP 191, the BSP 85 and the Congress 77, with 254 independents.

Rural bodies are in three tiers: Gram Panchayat (village), Kshetra Panchayat (block) and Zila Panchayat (district), under the UP Panchayati Raj Act, 1947 and the 1961 Act on kshettra and zila panchayats. The last full cycle was held in 2021. These polls are formally non-party, so no authoritative party-wise tally exists and none could be verified for this guide. The next cycle was due in 2026; check the State Election Commission site for its status.

Reservation, delimitation and voters

The Assembly map is fixed at 84 SC and 2 ST seats and the Lok Sabha map at 17 SC and no ST seats. The Lok Sabha constituencies were redrawn under the 2008 delimitation order, and the 2009 election was the first fought on the new map. Local bodies reserve seats for SC, ST, OBC and women under state law; the exact percentages are not covered here because they were not verified.

Electors numbered 14,16,63,646 in 2017 and 15,12,46,168 in 2022. After the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls that started on 27 October 2025, Wikipedia's summary reports about 15.44 crore electors before the exercise and about 13.39 crore in the final roll, a fall of roughly 2.05 crore (13.21 per cent). That page gives conflicting end dates for the exercise and the ECI's own figures could not be opened, so treat these numbers as approximate.

Firsts and records

• The 1951-52 election was held on 430 seats in 347 constituencies, with 2,604 candidates.
• Congress won 388 of 430 seats in 1951-52, still the highest tally in the state's history.
• The 2012 turnout rise of 13.44 percentage points is the largest between two successive elections among the confirmed figures in the table above.
• The 13th Assembly (1996 to 2002) lasted 1,967 days, the longest in Wikipedia's list of Assemblies; the 4th Assembly (1967 to 1968) lasted 402 days, the shortest.
• The BSP's single seat in 2022 is its lowest tally in the table above; it won 13 seats on its first outing in 1989.

For exam preparation

• Uttar Pradesh has held 18 Assembly elections from 1951-52 to 2022; the 2022 election was in seven phases from 10 February to 7 March, with counting on 10 March 2022.
• In 2022 the BJP won 255 seats, SP 111, AD(S) 12, RLD 8, SBSP 6, NISHAD 6, INC 2, JD(L) 2 and BSP 1.
• In 2017 the BJP won 312 seats; in 2012 the SP won 224 and in 2007 the BSP won 206.
• In the 2014 Lok Sabha election the BJP won 71 seats, in 2019 it won 62, and in 2024 the SP won 37 against the BJP's 33.
• In the 2023 municipal elections the BJP won all 17 mayoral posts.
• Turnout was 61.03 per cent in 2022, 61.24 per cent in 2017 and 59.40 per cent in 2012.

Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders

This section lists only completed tenures, which do not change. Dates follow Wikipedia's lists, which draw on official records; exact Speaker and Chief Justice dates vary by a few days between sources, and older Chief Justice tenures are given by year only. The state has had 21 Chief Ministers since 26 January 1950, and the incumbent is not named here (see the note under How the state is governed).

Chief Ministers

No.	Chief Minister	Party	Tenure or tenures
1	Govind Ballabh Pant	INC	26 Jan 1950 to 28 Dec 1954 (also Premier of the United Provinces, 1937 to 1939 and 1946 to 1950)
2	Sampurnanand	INC	28 Dec 1954 to 7 Dec 1960
3	Chandra Bhanu Gupta	INC	7 Dec 1960 to 2 Oct 1963; 14 Mar to 3 Apr 1967; 26 Feb 1969 to 18 Feb 1970
4	Sucheta Kripalani	INC	2 Oct 1963 to 14 Mar 1967 (first woman to hold the office in the state)
5	Charan Singh	BKD	3 Apr 1967 to 25 Feb 1968; 18 Feb to 1 Oct 1970
6	Tribhuvan Narain Singh	INC(O)	18 Oct 1970 to 4 Apr 1971
7	Kamalapati Tripathi	INC	4 Apr 1971 to 13 Jun 1973
8	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna	INC	8 Nov 1973 to 30 Nov 1975
9	Narayan Datt Tiwari	INC	21 Jan 1976 to 30 Apr 1977; 3 Aug 1984 to 24 Sep 1985; 25 Jun 1988 to 5 Dec 1989
10	Ram Naresh Yadav	JP	23 Jun 1977 to 28 Feb 1979
11	Banarasi Das	JP	28 Feb 1979 to 17 Feb 1980
12	Vishwanath Pratap Singh	INC	9 Jun 1980 to 19 Jul 1982
13	Sripati Mishra	INC	19 Jul 1982 to 3 Aug 1984
14	Vir Bahadur Singh	INC	24 Sep 1985 to 25 Jun 1988
15	Mulayam Singh Yadav	JD, then SP	5 Dec 1989 to 24 Jun 1991; 4 Dec 1993 to 3 Jun 1995; 29 Aug 2003 to 13 May 2007
16	Kalyan Singh	BJP	24 Jun 1991 to 6 Dec 1992; 21 Sep 1997 to 12 Nov 1999
17	Mayawati	BSP	3 Jun to 18 Oct 1995; 21 Mar to 21 Sep 1997; 3 May 2002 to 29 Aug 2003; 13 May 2007 to 15 Mar 2012
18	Ram Prakash Gupta	BJP	12 Nov 1999 to 28 Oct 2000
19	Rajnath Singh	BJP	28 Oct 2000 to 8 Mar 2002
20	Akhilesh Yadav	SP	15 Mar 2012 to 19 Mar 2017
21	Incumbent	BJP	From 19 Mar 2017

Nine spells of President's Rule fall between these tenures: 25 Feb 1968 to 26 Feb 1969, 1 to 18 Oct 1970, 13 Jun to 8 Nov 1973, 30 Nov 1975 to 21 Jan 1976, 30 Apr to 23 Jun 1977, 17 Feb to 9 Jun 1980, 6 Dec 1992 to 4 Dec 1993, 18 Oct 1995 to 21 Mar 1997 and 8 Mar to 3 May 2002. The longest single stretch among completed tenures is the second Chief Minister's, at 5 years 345 days. The Nawab of Chhatari held the Premier's post of the United Provinces from 3 April to 16 July 1937, before Pant. In February 1998 the Governor dismissed the Kalyan Singh government and swore in a Congress leader as Chief Minister, but the Allahabad High Court stayed the order and the earlier government was back within two days (this is not shown in the table above).

Governors

No.	Governor	Tenure
1	Hormasji Pherozeshah Mody	26 Jan 1950 to 1 Jun 1952
2	Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi	2 Jun 1952 to 9 Jun 1957
3	V. V. Giri	10 Jun 1957 to 30 Jun 1960
4	Burgula Ramakrishna Rao	1 Jul 1960 to 15 Apr 1962
5	Bishwanath Das	16 Apr 1962 to 30 Apr 1967
6	Bezawada Gopala Reddy	1 May 1967 to 30 Jun 1972
7	Shashi Kanta Verma (acting)	1 Jul to 13 Nov 1972
8	Akbar Ali Khan	14 Nov 1972 to 24 Oct 1974
9	Marri Chenna Reddy	25 Oct 1974 to 1 Oct 1977
10	Ganpatrao Devji Tapase	2 Oct 1977 to 27 Feb 1980
11	Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh	28 Feb 1980 to 31 Mar 1985
12	Mohammed Usman Arif	31 Mar 1985 to 11 Feb 1990
13	B. Satya Narayan Reddy	12 Feb 1990 to 25 May 1993
14	Motilal Vora	26 May 1993 to 3 May 1996
15	Mohammad Shafi Qureshi (additional charge)	3 May to 19 Jul 1996
16	Romesh Bhandari	19 Jul 1996 to 17 Mar 1998
17	Mohammad Shafi Qureshi (additional charge, second time)	17 Mar to 19 Apr 1998
18	Suraj Bhan	20 Apr 1998 to 23 Nov 2000
19	Vishnu Kant Shastri	24 Nov 2000 to 2 Jul 2004
20	Sudarshan Agarwal (additional charge)	3 to 7 Jul 2004
21	T. V. Rajeswar	8 Jul 2004 to 27 Jul 2009
22	Banwari Lal Joshi	28 Jul 2009 to 17 Jun 2014
23	Aziz Qureshi (additional charge)	17 Jun to 22 Jul 2014
24	Ram Naik	22 Jul 2014 to 28 Jul 2019
25	Incumbent	From 29 Jul 2019

Before the table begins, Sarojini Naidu served as the first Governor of the United Provinces after independence, from 15 August 1947 until her death on 2 March 1949. Wikipedia's numbered list starts on 26 January 1950, when the Constitution came into force; the province itself was renamed Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950.

Speakers of the Vidhan Sabha

Speaker	Tenure
Purushottam Das Tandon (INC)	31 Jul 1937 to 10 Aug 1950
Nafisul Hasan	21 Dec 1950 to 19 May 1952
Atmaram Govind Kher	20 May 1952 to 26 Mar 1962; again 17 Mar 1969 to 18 Mar 1974
Madan Mohan Verma	26 Mar 1962 to 16 Mar 1967
Jagdish Saran Agarwal	17 Mar 1967 to 16 Mar 1969
Vasudev Singh	18 Mar 1974 to 12 Jul 1977
Banarasi Das (Janata Party)	12 Jul 1977 to 26 Feb 1979
Sripati Mishra	7 Jul 1980 to 18 Jul 1982
Dharam Singh	25 Aug 1982 to 15 Mar 1985
Niyaz Hasan Khan	15 Mar 1985 to 9 Jan 1990
Harikishan Srivastava (Janata Dal)	9 Jan 1990 to 30 Jul 1991
Keshari Nath Tripathi (BJP)	30 Jul 1991 to 15 Dec 1993; again 27 Mar 1997 to 19 May 2004
Dhaniram Verma (SP)	15 Dec 1993 to 20 Jun 1995
Barkhu Ram Verma (BSP)	Acting from 20 Jun 1995; Speaker 18 Jul 1995 to 26 Mar 1997
Mata Prasad Pandey (SP)	26 Jul 2004 to 18 May 2007; again 13 Apr 2012 to 30 Mar 2017
Sukhdev Rajbhar (BSP)	18 May 2007 to 13 Apr 2012
Hriday Narayan Dikshit (BJP)	30 Mar 2017 to 29 Mar 2022

The incumbent Speaker has held office since 29 March 2022 and is not named. Short acting terms also occurred in 1979 to 1980, 1982 and 2004. Party labels are given where the source shows them; for the early decades it does not.

Chief Justices of the Allahabad High Court

The court has had 51 Chief Justices since 1866, the first being Walter Morgan (1866 to 1871); thirteen served up to 1947. The post-independence tenures are below. Pre-2000 tenures are given by year only because the source list does not show exact dates for them.

No.	Chief Justice	Tenure
14	Bidhu Bhushan Malik	1947 to 1955
15	Orby Howell Mootham	1955 to 1961
16	Manulal Chunilal Desai	1961 to 1966
17	Vashishtha Bhargava	25 Feb to 7 Aug 1966
18	Mirza Nasirullah Beg	1966 to 1967
19	Vidyadhar Govind Oak	1967 to 1971
20	Shashi Kanta Verma	1971 to 1973
21	Dhatri Saran Mathur	1973 to 1974
22	Kunwar Bahadur Asthana	1974 to 1977
23	Deshmudre Mallappa Chandrashekhar	1977 to 1978
24	Satish Chandra	1978 to 1983
25	Mahesh Narain Shukla	1983 to 1985
26	Hridai Narain Seth	1986
27	Kalmanje Jagannatha Shetty	1986 to 1987
28	Dwarka Nath Jha	1987
29	Amitav Banerji	1987 to 1988
30	Brahma Nath Katju	1988 to 1989
31	Benjaram Pranaya Jeevan Reddy	1990 to 1991
32	Manoj Kumar Mukherjee	1991 to 1993
33	Sarvinder Singh Sodhi	1994 to 1995
34	Ambati Lakshman Rao	1995 to 1996
35	Debi Priya Mohapatra	1996 to 1998
36	Nirendra Krishna Mitra	1999 to 2000
37	Shyamal Kumar Sen	8 May 2000 to 24 Nov 2002
38	Tarun Chatterjee	31 Jan 2003 to 26 Aug 2004
39	Ajoy Nath Ray	11 Jan 2005 to 26 Jan 2007
40	Hemant Laxman Gokhale	7 Mar 2007 to 8 Mar 2009
41	Chandramauli Kumar Prasad	20 Mar 2009 to 7 Feb 2010
42	Ferdino Rebello	26 Jun 2010 to 30 Jul 2011
43	Syed Rafat Alam	4 Aug 2011 to 8 Aug 2012
44	Shiva Kirti Singh	17 Oct 2012 to 18 Sep 2013
45	Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud	31 Oct 2013 to 12 May 2016
46	Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale	30 Jul 2016 to 23 Oct 2018
47	Govind Mathur	14 Nov 2018 to 13 Apr 2021
48	Sanjay Yadav	14 Apr to 26 Jun 2021
49	Rajesh Bindal	11 Oct 2021 to 12 Feb 2023
50	Pritinker Diwaker	26 Mar to 21 Nov 2023
51	Incumbent	From 5 Feb 2024

Acting Chief Justices served in the gaps. Wikipedia's list is not fully consistent on a few early dates (for example, a second table gives Mahesh Narain Shukla's term as 12 April to 5 October 1985), so treat year-only entries as approximate. The 45th Chief Justice later became Chief Justice of India.

For exam preparation

• Govind Ballabh Pant was the first Chief Minister after the Constitution came into force (26 January 1950) and Sucheta Kripalani the first woman to hold the post in the state.
• The longest single stretch among completed tenures is 5 years 345 days, from 28 December 1954 to 7 December 1960.
• The state has had 21 Chief Ministers and 9 spells of President's Rule since 1950.
• Hormasji Mody was the first Governor in the post-1950 list; Sarojini Naidu was the first Governor of the United Provinces after independence.
• Purushottam Das Tandon was the first Speaker (1937 to 1950); Walter Morgan was the first Chief Justice of the High Court (1866 to 1871).
• For the present holders of any post, check current affairs.

Political history and movements

Uttar Pradesh's politics runs from the Congress-dominated years after independence through coalition governments and President's Rule to single-party majorities in the 21st century.

From the United Provinces to Uttar Pradesh

The Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces was constituted on 1 April 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935. After the 1937 elections the Congress formed a ministry on 17 July 1937 (after a short interim in April to July). The Congress ministries resigned in November 1939, and the province was under the Governor's rule from 3 November 1939 until 31 March 1946. The same Congress leader led the government again from 1 April 1946, and the province was renamed Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950. The Constitution took effect two days later.

Congress dominance and its end

The Congress won the most seats in every Assembly election up to 1974, usually by a wide margin, but its hold weakened in 1967, when it won 199 of 425 seats and fell short of a majority. A coalition of the Jan Sangh, the Samyukta Socialist Party, Congress defectors, the Communists, the Swatantra Party and others (the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal) formed the government, with the Bharatiya Kranti Dal's leader as Chief Minister from 3 April 1967. Between 1968 and 1980 the state saw six spells of President's Rule. After the Emergency, the Janata Party won 352 of 425 seats in 1977 and all 85 Lok Sabha seats. Congress returned in 1980 and won 269 seats in 1985, but it has not formed a government of its own since 1989.

Mandal, Mandir and the new parties

From 1989 the state's politics changed. The Janata Dal formed the government in 1989, and the BSP, founded to represent Dalit and other deprived groups, won its first 13 seats that year. The BJP, which campaigned on the Ram temple at Ayodhya, formed its first government in 1991. The Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished on 6 December 1992, and President's Rule followed the same day. The title dispute at the site was settled by the Supreme Court's judgment of 9 November 2019. In 1993 the SP and BSP fought together and formed a government; that government ended on 3 June 1995, when a BSP-led government took office. The next few years saw hung Houses, six-month rotations of the chief ministership between BSP and BJP in 1997, and the dismissal and restoration of a government within two days in February 1998.

Uttarakhand and demands to divide the state

A demand for a separate hill state grew in the Kumaon and Garhwal districts from the 1980s. It led to the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, and Uttarakhand (then called Uttaranchal) came into being on 9 November 2000, taking 13 districts with it. After that the House was reduced from 425 to 403 seats and the Lok Sabha delegation from 85 to 80. Other demands to divide the remaining state, for Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and western Uttar Pradesh, have been raised since then; No detail is given because none could be verified.

Farmers and regional politics

Farmers' politics has been a thread through the state's history, from the Bharatiya Kranti Dal of the 1960s to the Rashtriya Lok Dal of today, and land-acquisition compensation was a live issue in the run-up to the 2012 election. The state's regions (the west, Rohilkhand, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal in the east) often vote differently, which is why regional breakdowns are standard in election analysis.

Recent developments

The BJP won 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, then 312 Assembly seats in 2017, 62 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and 255 Assembly seats in 2022. The SP-BSP-RLD alliance of 2019 did not change the outcome. In 2024 the SP and Congress won 43 seats together against the NDA's 36, and the BJP's own count fell to 33. Thirteen by-elections followed in 2024, and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls began on 27 October 2025.

For exam preparation

• The United Provinces Assembly was constituted on 1 April 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935.
• The province was renamed Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950.
• Uttarakhand was formed on 9 November 2000 under the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000.
• The BJP formed its first state government in 1991; the Babri Masjid was demolished on 6 December 1992.
• The SP and BSP fought the 1993 election together; the BJP won 71 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.

Budget and governance

The 2026-27 budget was presented on 11 February 2026 and is larger than any of its predecessors in the state's own size chart, with total expenditure of Rs 9,12,696 crore (about Rs 9.13 lakh crore). Figures below are budget estimates as on 4 October 2026, from PRS Legislative Research's analysis dated 25 February 2026 and the state's "Key Features of Budget 2026-27" document, and they will be replaced each February. The state's chart puts the headline size at 9.13 lakh crore against 8.09 lakh crore in 2025-26.

Key numbers

Item	2026-27 (budget estimate)
Total expenditure	Rs 9,12,696 crore (Rs 8,50,901 crore net of Rs 61,795 crore debt repayment)
Total receipts	Rs 8,48,233 crore (Rs 7,32,420 crore net of borrowings)
Revenue receipts	Rs 7,28,928 crore, half from the state and half from the Centre
Own tax revenue	Rs 3,34,491 crore (State GST Rs 1,49,956 crore; excise Rs 71,278 crore; VAT Rs 48,115 crore)
Revenue expenditure	Rs 6,64,471 crore
Capital outlay	Rs 1,77,744 crore (4.47 per cent of GSDP, state document)
Revenue surplus	Rs 64,458 crore, 1.6 per cent of GSDP
Fiscal deficit	Rs 1,18,481 crore, 3.0 per cent of GSDP (2.98 per cent in the state's own document)
Outstanding liabilities	23.1 per cent of GSDP at end-2026-27 (27.6 per cent in the 2025-26 revised estimate)
GSDP	Rs 39,75,500 crore at current prices, 28 per cent above the 2025-26 revised estimate of Rs 31,00,914 crore

PRS records the 28 per cent GSDP growth against the Union Budget's 10 per cent assumption for the country, and notes that the closing cash balance in the state's own financing table is negative by Rs 55,060 crore, which indicates that more funding sources may be needed. Own tax revenue is projected 48 per cent above the 2025-26 revised estimate. Committed expenditure (salaries Rs 1,82,921 crore, pension Rs 1,01,901 crore, interest Rs 68,921 crore) is Rs 3,53,743 crore, 49 per cent of revenue receipts. PRS also found that capital outlay was underspent by 28 per cent on average against budget between 2021-22 and 2024-25.

Headline allocations

By sector (PRS): education, sports, arts and culture Rs 1,08,154 crore; energy Rs 56,621 crore (including a Rs 21,500 crore power subsidy); health and family welfare Rs 53,326 crore; transport Rs 50,391 crore; rural development Rs 49,044 crore; social welfare and nutrition Rs 42,263 crore; police Rs 41,898 crore; agriculture and allied activities Rs 30,938 crore; urban development Rs 27,532 crore. The largest departmental allocations in the state's own gross-budget list are Primary Education (Rs 80,997 crore), Energy (Rs 65,926 crore), Home (Rs 44,146 crore), Public Works (Rs 33,740 crore) and Panchayati Raj (Rs 32,090 crore). Scheme lines include the Jal Jeevan Mission (Rs 15,060 crore), Annapurti Yojana (Rs 15,480 crore) and PM Awas Yojana 2.0 (Rs 12,434 crore). New items include a Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Employment and Industrial Zone scheme (Rs 575 crore), a Rs 750 crore scheme for the Meerut, Mathura-Vrindavan and Kanpur development authorities, missions on emerging technology and AI, and a provision for a new Vidhan Bhavan.

Governance and reforms

The budget documents list a state data centre and data-centre clusters, an AI Mission, a cyber security operations centre, a "U-HUB" at Lucknow and Gautam Buddh Nagar, a Future Ready Tehsil scheme, funds for Census 2027 preparation and the "Jan Vishwas" approach to simplifying licences and registrations. The fiscal framework is the UP Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2004. PRS points to weak finances of power distribution companies, whose accumulated losses were about Rs 1 lakh crore at March 2025, with aggregate technical and commercial losses of 19.6 per cent in 2024-25, and to low own revenue of local bodies.

For exam preparation

• The 2026-27 budget was presented on 11 February 2026 with total expenditure of Rs 9,12,696 crore.
• The fiscal deficit target is 3 per cent of GSDP (Rs 1,18,481 crore) and the revenue surplus Rs 64,458 crore.
• Capital outlay is Rs 1,77,744 crore and own tax revenue Rs 3,34,491 crore.
• State GST is the largest own tax at Rs 1,49,956 crore (45 per cent of own tax revenue).
• The fiscal framework is the Uttar Pradesh FRBM Act, 2004.

Economy

Uttar Pradesh has India's largest population and one of its largest state economies, but a modest income per person. As on October 2026, the state's first-ever Economic Survey (2025-26, presented in February 2026) puts gross state domestic product (GSDP, the total value of goods and services produced in a year) for 2024-25 at about ₹30.25 lakh crore and per capita income at ₹1,09,844. Most workers are still on farms or in construction and small trades, while the state's budget has grown steeply since 2017-18. The state has set itself a goal of a one-trillion-dollar economy; this is an ambition, not a forecast.

Size, growth and income

The figures below are from the Economic Survey 2025-26 as reported by the press and exam-news sites, and from PRS Legislative Research's analysis of the 2026-27 budget. Survey and budget figures use different bases and dates, so they do not line up neatly.

Indicator	Value	Source and year
GSDP, current prices	₹30.25 lakh crore (2024-25)	Economic Survey 2025-26
GSDP in 2016-17	₹13.30 lakh crore	Economic Survey 2025-26
Growth, 2016-17 to 2024-25	10.8% a year (compound)	Economic Survey 2025-26
Share of India's economy	9.1% in 2024-25 (8.6% in 2016-17)	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported
Per capita income	₹1,09,844 in 2024-25 (₹54,564 in 2016-17)	Economic Survey 2025-26
GSDP, 2025-26	₹31.01 lakh crore (revised estimate)	Budget documents via PRS
GSDP, 2026-27	₹39.8 lakh crore (projected, current prices)	Budget documents via PRS

Two points need care. First, the survey set a target of ₹36 lakh crore for 2025-26, whereas the budget's revised estimate for the same year is about ₹31 lakh crore. The 2026-27 projection of ₹39.8 lakh crore is 28% above that revised estimate, a very large jump; treat it as a budget assumption. Second, per capita income is well below the national figure because the state's population is so large. The survey's "per capita GSDP" is a different series and should not be mixed with per capita income. We could not confirm the state's exact rank among Indian states from a primary source, so this guide does not state one.

Jobs and sectors

NITI Aayog's report "Macro and Fiscal Landscape of the State of Uttar Pradesh" (March 2025), which uses Periodic Labour Force Survey data, gives this picture of employment:

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 54.3% of workers
• Services: 23%
• Construction: 13.1%
• Manufacturing: 9.2%

The same report puts the annual unemployment rate at 2.4% and female labour force participation at 31.2%, both below national averages, and notes that only about 24% of residents live in urban areas. Low female participation is a long-standing feature of the state's labour market. The report year for the PLFS data is not stated in the summary we could open.

The Economic Survey and the state's budget booklet add some indicators of industrial activity. Registered factories have crossed 30,000. The state reports being second in the country for MSME registrations (as on 10 February 2026), with more than 16,000 start-ups recognised by the central industry department (DPIIT) and eight "unicorns" (start-ups valued above US$1 billion). NITI Aayog's Export Preparedness Index 2024 ranks the state fourth. Reported exports for 2024-25 were a record ₹1.86 lakh crore, led by electronic goods (24.2%), engineering goods (20%) and meat, dairy and poultry (11.4%). A press report citing the Federation of Indian Export Organisations said exports from the state's top eight industrial cities were 18% to 31% lower in January to August 2025 than a year earlier after new US tariffs. These export figures come from news reports, not from a government table we opened.

Poverty

NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index (progress review, July 2023) measures poverty across health, education and living standards, not income alone. It reports that Uttar Pradesh saw the largest fall in the number of poor people of any state, about 3.43 crore fewer people between 2015-16 (NFHS-4) and 2019-21 (NFHS-5), against a national headcount ratio that fell from 24.85% to 14.96%. We could not open the state-level percentages from the report itself, so they are not quoted here.

State budget and finances

The 2026-27 budget was presented on 11 February 2026. These figures are from the budget documents as analysed by PRS and from the state's own "Key Features" booklet.

Item (2026-27 budget estimate)	Amount
Total expenditure	about ₹9.13 lakh crore (₹9,12,696 crore); ₹8.51 lakh crore excluding debt repayment
Total receipts	₹8.48 lakh crore; ₹7.32 lakh crore excluding borrowing
Revenue receipts	₹7,28,928 crore
Own tax revenue	₹3,34,491 crore (8.4% of GSDP, PRS)
Central share in taxes	₹2,68,911 crore
Central grants	₹98,772 crore
Capital outlay	₹1,77,744 crore (about 4.5% of GSDP)
Revenue surplus	₹64,458 crore (1.6% of GSDP)
Fiscal deficit	₹1,18,481 crore (about 3% of GSDP)
Outstanding debt	₹9,19,414 crore (23.1% of GSDP) at end 2026-27
Salaries / pensions / interest	₹1,82,921 crore / ₹1,01,901 crore / ₹68,921 crore

The state shows a revenue surplus, which means current receipts exceed current spending; the booklet says the state ranked first among states for revenue surplus in a 2023 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit on the deficit is 3% of GSDP, and the booklet notes an extra 0.5% allowed by the Centre for energy-sector reforms. PRS reports committed spending (salaries, pensions and interest) at 49% of revenue receipts. The largest department allocations are primary education (₹80,997 crore), energy (₹65,926 crore) and home (₹44,146 crore). The booklet describes the state as the first with capital expenditure above ₹1 lakh crore; that is the state's own claim.

Bank finances are strong on paper: the booklet reports total banking business of ₹32.79 lakh crore in December 2025 and a credit-deposit ratio of 60.39.

For exam preparation

• The first Economic Survey of Uttar Pradesh was presented in February 2026.
• GSDP in 2024-25 was about ₹30.25 lakh crore and per capita income ₹1,09,844 (Economic Survey 2025-26).
• The state's share in India's economy was 9.1% in 2024-25, up from 8.6% in 2016-17, as reported.
• The 2026-27 budget is about ₹9.13 lakh crore, presented on 11 February 2026.
• In the 2026-27 budget the fiscal deficit is about 3% of GSDP and the state shows a revenue surplus.
• Over half of workers (54.3%) are in agriculture (NITI Aayog, March 2025).
• The state's one-trillion-dollar economy target is a stated goal.

Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy

Uttar Pradesh is the country's biggest producer of foodgrain, wheat, sugar and milk, and a large producer of potatoes, mangoes and pulses. Its Ganga-Yamuna plain gives deep alluvial soil and plentiful groundwater. Its forests and minerals are modest, concentrated in the Terai belt along the Nepal border and in the Vindhyan hills of the south. Industry is built around district clusters, such as brass, glass, carpets and leather, and increasingly around electronics and data centres in the Noida region. Power demand is met mainly by coal-fired plants.

Agriculture

Item	Fact	Source and year
Foodgrain	about 20.6% of India's output	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported
Wheat	35.65 million tonnes from 9.60 million hectares; first among states	Final estimates 2024-25, as reported
Milk	16.21% of India's 239.30 million tonnes; first among states	Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2024 (for 2023-24)
Sugar	92.75 lakh tonnes in the 2024-25 season, about 35% of national output; first among states	Press reports of the season
Farm value added	about ₹1.73 lakh per hectare	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported

Wheat is the main winter (rabi) crop; rice, sugarcane, maize, bajra and pulses dominate the summer (kharif) season, with sugarcane planted across both. Sugarcane is the leading cash crop, concentrated in western Uttar Pradesh and the Terai. The 2024-25 sugar output was lower than the year before: press reports give 103.65 lakh tonnes in 2023-24, and a fall in the recovery rate (the share of sugar extracted from cane) from 10.60% to 9.70%. The state reported more than 120 mills in operation (press figures vary between 121 and 122), so quote the mill count with care. For 2025-26 the budget raised the state's advised cane price by ₹30 per quintal, which it estimated adds ₹3,000 crore to farmers' income.

Eastern Uttar Pradesh is known for Kalanamak rice, a scented, GI-tagged variety. Malihabad near Lucknow is best known for Dasheri mangoes. We did not open sources on potato or mango rank, so no rank is claimed for them.

Policy and finance reaching farmers include:

• PM-KISAN, the central income-support scheme of ₹6,000 a year.
• Kisan Credit Card: the booklet reports limits above ₹1 lakh crore approved to 50.82 lakh farmers up to December 2025.
• UP-AGREES, a World Bank-supported programme (as described in the booklet) to modernise farming and raise productivity by up to 35% in 28 districts.
• Livestock insurance and veterinary programmes and revolving funds for farmer producer organisations, announced as new schemes in the 2026-27 budget.

We could not confirm the net sown area, irrigation share or fertiliser use from a source opened this session, so those figures are not given.

Forests and wildlife

India State of Forest Report 2023 (as reported by exam-news sites) puts the state's recorded forest area (land legally notified as forest) at 16,582 sq km, which is about 6.9% of the state's geographical area of 2,40,928 sq km (our calculation). Forest cover inside the recorded area is reported as 9,338.76 sq km. Tree cover outside forests is 8,950.92 sq km, the third largest among states after Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The state's budget booklet claims 242.13 crore trees planted and forest cover up by 3.38 lakh hectares; these are state claims. We could not confirm the state's total forest cover percentage.

The state has four tiger reserves: Dudhwa (Lakhimpur Kheri), Pilibhit, Amangarh (the buffer of Jim Corbett, in Bijnor) and Ranipur, the first in Bundelkhand, notified in 2022. Sources disagree on whether Ranipur was the 53rd or 54th in India, so no number is given. The state animal is the barasingha (swamp deer), the state bird the sarus crane, the state tree the ashoka and the state flower the palash, as listed on Wikipedia. Wetlands matter for migratory birds: the Ramsar list includes the Upper Ganga river stretch (2005), Nawabganj, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi, Parvati Arga and Sarsai Nawar (all 2019), Sur Sarovar (2020) and Bakhira (2021). Press reports in June 2026 call Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary (Surha Tal, Ballia) the 13th Ramsar site of the state, while another source lists 12; counts differ by source.

Minerals

The state's mineral wealth is small. According to the Indian Bureau of Mines state profile:

• Coal is found in the Singrauli coalfield of Sonbhadra district.
• Limestone, dolomite, fireclay, potash-bearing rock and sillimanite occur in Sonbhadra.
• Diaspore and pyrophyllite occur in Hamirpur, Jhansi, Lalitpur and Mahoba. The profile says the state holds about 78% of India's andalusite resources and 37% of its diaspore.
• Bauxite is reported in Banda, Varanasi and Lalitpur, rock phosphate and iron ore in Lalitpur, and granite across the Bundelkhand districts of Banda, Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Mahoba.
• Silica sand of glass-making quality is found near Shankargarh and Naini in the Prayagraj area and at Bargarh in Banda.

Coal, limestone and sulphur were the minerals actually produced in 2021-22 according to the same source. Minor minerals such as sand and morrum are a separate, large business that this guide does not quantify.

Industry

The signature policy is One District One Product (ODOP), launched on 24 January 2018 to name a traditional product for each of the state's 75 districts and build clusters around it. The state's investment portal says the scheme helped raise export capacity by more than 30% since 2018, with exports of about ₹89,000 crore in 2019-20 (a state claim). A 2025 update added 12 products, taking the list to 74; the additions include Ballia sattu, Bareilly wood products and Agra's petha and footwear. The product list changes, so check the ODOP portal before answering "which district makes what".

Newer growth comes from electronics. The Union Cabinet approved a ₹3,706 crore display-driver chip plant by a joint venture of an Indian group and a Taiwanese manufacturer near Jewar, with planned capacity of 20,000 wafers a month, and the state approved two more semiconductor units nearby. The state's electronics components policy (2025) targets US$50 billion of electronics output and ten lakh jobs by 2030. The booklet reports data-centre capacity of 644 MW proposed by June 2025 and a film city on 230 acres in Noida's Sector 21. The state's land-allotment agency recorded 798 allocations in 2024-25, drawing investment of over ₹60,000 crore, according to the booklet. These are state-reported figures.

Energy

Installed generation capacity was 36,741 MW on 31 December 2025 (state booklet); a press report puts it at 36,787.83 MW on 28 February 2026, with thermal about 69% and renewables about 17%. As of August 2025 the same sources reported 6,349 MW of renewable capacity, including 3,486.56 MW of solar, 2,310.39 MW of bio-power and 501.60 MW of large hydro. The state has reported more than 3.5 lakh rooftop solar systems and over 1 GW of rooftop capacity under the central PM Surya Ghar scheme. It also announced a green hydrogen plant at Gorakhpur and new compressed biogas projects worth about ₹6,000 crore (May 2025), both as reported by the state.

For exam preparation

• Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of wheat, foodgrain, sugar and milk among states.
• In 2023-24 it produced 16.21% of India's milk (Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2024).
• ODOP was launched on 24 January 2018 and covers all 75 districts.
• The state's tiger reserves are Dudhwa, Pilibhit, Amangarh and Ranipur.
• The only coalfield is Singrauli in Sonbhadra district.
• Installed power capacity was about 36,741 MW on 31 December 2025.

Transport and infrastructure

Uttar Pradesh is a transport crossroads: the Ganga plain carries trunk rail lines and highways between Delhi and eastern India, and the state is now building an expressway grid, several metros and a new generation of airports. As on October 2026, the state's budget booklet counts 16 operational airports, seven operational expressways with 15 more in progress, and six cities with an operating metro. Dates and lengths below are from official or press sources; project status changes quickly.

Expressways

Expressway	Length	Route and status
Ganga Expressway	594 km	Meerut (Bijauli) to Prayagraj (Judapur Dandu), 12 districts; inaugurated 29 April 2026; six lanes, expandable to eight; cost about ₹36,230 crore; has a 3.2 km emergency airstrip near Shahjahanpur
Purvanchal Expressway	340 km	Lucknow area to Ghazipur; six lanes; operational (opened 2021)
Agra-Lucknow Expressway	302 km	Six lanes; operational (opened 2016)
Bundelkhand Expressway	296 km	Four lanes; operational (opened 2022)
Noida-Greater Noida Expressway	25 km	Six lanes; operational
Yamuna Expressway	Delhi side to Agra	Operational (opened 2012); we did not confirm its length
Gorakhpur Link Expressway	91 km	Four lanes; listed as under construction in the source we opened; check current status
Ghazipur-Ballia-Manjhi Ghat	not confirmed	Six-lane greenfield expressway, listed as under construction

The Ganga Expressway is the longest in the state. Opening years in the table are from general reference and are flagged in our notes. The state's expressway agency is developing 27 multi-modal logistics clusters along five expressways, and the state has approved six new north-south corridors.

Rail

Three railway zones touch the state. The North Central Railway has its headquarters at Prayagraj, the North Eastern Railway at Gorakhpur, and the Northern Railway at Delhi, with Lucknow as one of its divisions. The 82 km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Namo Bharat regional rapid rail corridor, a high-speed commuter service with a top speed of 180 km/h, was fully launched on 22 February 2026 together with the Meerut Metro, cutting Delhi-Meerut travel to about 55 minutes as reported.

Metro

City	Status (as reported)
Lucknow	First section opened September 2017
Noida (Aqua Line)	Opened 25 January 2019
Kanpur	First section opened December 2021; Corridor 1 (IIT Kanpur to Naubasta, about 23.5 km) was in final safety inspection in the reports we opened
Agra	5.2 km priority section opened 6 March 2024; full Phase 1 expected by end 2026
Meerut	Metro launched 22 February 2026 with the Namo Bharat corridor

The state's booklet counts six cities with metro services; it does not list them, and we have named only those we could confirm. Check current-affairs pages for newly opened stretches.

Airports

Noida International Airport at Jewar began commercial flights on 15 June 2026. Its first phase is built for about 12 million passengers a year with one runway and one terminal; IndiGo, Akasa Air and Air India Express were the early operators. Maharishi Valmiki International Airport at Ayodhya was inaugurated on 30 December 2023, with a first-phase capacity of about one million passengers a year. Lucknow, Varanasi and Kushinagar are the other airports with international status; Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Hindon (Ghaziabad) handle domestic commercial flights. The booklet says the state was recognised as the most proactive under the regional air connectivity scheme (UDAN) and reports 1.42 crore air passengers in 2024-25. The state also provided ₹1,100 crore in 2026-27 for airstrip construction and expansion.

Water, rivers and power

The Ganga's National Waterway 1 runs through Varanasi and Prayagraj; we did not open a source for its length or cargo traffic, so none is given. For drinking water, the state's own budget allocates ₹15,060 crore to the Jal Jeevan Mission (tap water to rural homes) and ₹22,675.80 crore to the Namami Gange and rural water supply department. Power capacity is covered in the previous section.

For exam preparation

• The Ganga Expressway (594 km, Meerut to Prayagraj) was inaugurated on 29 April 2026.
• Purvanchal Expressway is 340 km, Agra-Lucknow 302 km and Bundelkhand 296 km.
• Noida International Airport (Jewar) began commercial flights on 15 June 2026.
• Ayodhya's Maharishi Valmiki International Airport opened on 30 December 2023.
• North Central Railway is headquartered at Prayagraj and North Eastern Railway at Gorakhpur.
• The 82 km Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat corridor was fully launched on 22 February 2026.

Culture, tribes and heritage

Uttar Pradesh is the cultural heartland of the Hindi belt. Four regional tongues, Awadhi, Braj, Bhojpuri and Bundeli, sit under standard Hindi and Urdu, and each carries its own songs, stories and festivals. The state produced Kathak, shaped Hindustani classical music through several gharanas (teacher-student musical lineages), and holds the great pilgrimage cities of the Ganga and Yamuna. Its crafts are among the most recognised in India, and the state leads all others in Geographical Indication (GI) registrations, which protect products tied to a place.

Languages and literature

In Census 2011 as summarised on Wikipedia, Hindi accounted for about 80.16% of mother tongues, Bhojpuri 10.93% and Urdu 5.40%. Many "Hindi" speakers use a regional variety:

• Awadhi (Lucknow, Ayodhya, Prayagraj region): the language of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas and of Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat.
• Braj Bhasha (Mathura, Agra, Aligarh): the language of devotional poetry to Krishna, associated with Surdas.
• Bhojpuri (eastern districts such as Varanasi, Ballia, Ghazipur, Gorakhpur): spoken also in Bihar, with a large film and folk-song tradition.
• Bundeli (Jhansi, Banda, Jalaun and neighbouring districts) and Kanauji (the Kannauj region).
• Khari Boli (Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar): the base of modern standard Hindi and Urdu.

Among writers, Kabir (Kashi), Tulsidas, Bhartendu Harishchandra, Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" and Mahadevi Varma shaped Hindi literature, while Munshi Premchand wrote the novels and stories that made realism central to it. Harivansh Rai Bachchan of Prayagraj is remembered for "Madhushala". Urdu poetry has long roots in Lucknow and Agra; Mirza Ghalib was born in Agra, and Mir Taqi Mir and Firaq Gorakhpuri also belong to the state's tradition. Treat the pairing of each figure with a place as a pointer, not a full biography.

Music, dance and theatre

Kathak, the state's classical dance, takes its name from the storytellers (kathakas) of north Indian temples. Three gharanas are standard: Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras. The Lucknow school stresses grace and expression and grew under the patronage of the Awadh court, where the last Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, himself practised the art. The Banaras school is traditionally regarded as the oldest. The Maharaj family of Lucknow, including Shambhu Maharaj and Birju Maharaj, carried the Lucknow style through the twentieth century.

In music, Banaras, Lucknow and Agra have each given their name to gharanas of singing and instruments; thumri and dadra, light-classical forms, flourished in Lucknow and Banaras. Shehnai player Bismillah Khan of Varanasi and sitar master Ravi Shankar (raised in Varanasi) are among the state's best-known musicians. Begum Akhtar, from Faizabad (now Ayodhya district), is remembered for ghazal and thumri.

Folk forms vary by region:

• Raslila and Rasiya songs in Braj, with large drums, on the loves of Krishna and Radha.
• Nautanki and Swang, open-air musical theatre, popular in the Kanpur-Hathras belt.
• Ramlila, enactments of the Ramayana; the Ramnagar Ramlila near Varanasi runs for about a month.
• Kajri, Birha and Chaiti in Bhojpuri and Awadhi areas, sung with the seasons.
• Alha, a heroic ballad of the Bundelkhand region.
• Qawwali and Muharram mourning traditions, strongest in Lucknow's Awadhi culture.

Tribes

Scheduled tribes make up a very small share of the population, about 0.1% as summarised on Wikipedia. Groups usually listed include:

Tribe	Where mainly found	Note
Tharu	Terai districts along the Nepal border, such as Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich	Largest tribal community of the Terai
Gond	Eastern and south-eastern districts, such as Sonbhadra	Also large in central India
Kol	Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Chitrakoot belts	Vindhyan region
Sahariya	Lalitpur	Bundelkhand

District locations are indicative and are not from a source we opened.

Festivals and fairs

Festival or fair	Place	What it is
Kumbh and Magh Mela	Prayagraj (Sangam of Ganga and Yamuna)	The 2025 Maha Kumbh: the state reports 66+ crore pilgrims; independent estimates are lower, near 40 crore
Lathmar Holi	Barsana and Nandgaon (Mathura district)	Women playfully beat men with sticks, recalling a Krishna-Radha tale
Deepotsav	Ayodhya	Mass lighting of lamps on the eve of Diwali; the state says it broke its own Guinness record
Dev Deepawali	Varanasi	Lamps on the ghats on the full moon of Kartik; a general-knowledge entry
Chhath	Eastern districts	Sun worship at river banks
Ramlila	Ramnagar (Varanasi) and many towns	Ramayana enactments before Dussehra
Janmashtami	Mathura-Vrindavan	Krishna's birth
Muharram	Lucknow and other Awadh towns	Processions and mourning gatherings
Taj Mahotsav	Agra	Craft and food fair, usually in February; a general-knowledge entry

Cuisine

Lucknow's Awadhi cooking is known for slow-cooked kebabs such as galouti and kakori, biryani, and flatbreads like sheermal. Lucknow was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, as stated in the state's budget booklet. Varanasi's food includes kachori-sabzi, tamatar chaat, malaiyo (a winter froth sweet) and paan. The east favours litti-chokha. Agra's petha, Mathura's peda and Jaunpur's imarti are famous sweets; Jaunpur's imarti, Varanasi's red peda and Varanasi's thandai are GI-tagged. The 2026-27 budget announced a scheme called Ek Janpad Ek Vyanjan (One District One Cuisine), whose rules we have not seen.

Crafts and GI tags

The state's investment and heritage documents highlight chikankari and zari-zardozi embroidery from Lucknow, Banarasi silk brocades, wheat-stalk craft, horn and bone work, Agra's stone inlay (pietra dura), and glass from Firozabad. Pottery traditions from Khurja and Gorakhpur are GI-tagged, as are Bareilly furniture and Mathura's Sanjhi paper-cut craft.

The GI count depends on the date. A press report on 18 April 2025 said the state held 77 GI tags, the most of any state, and that the Kashi region alone had 32. Another report as of December 2025 gave 81. Neither figure is from the GI registry itself, so quote a number only with its date.

Architecture and painting

Mughal and Awadhi architecture define the state's skyline. The Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri show the Mughal style; Lucknow's imambaras and gates show the Awadhi style, a later blend of Mughal and regional taste. Sarnath preserves Buddhist remains from the Mauryan period onward, including the Dhamek Stupa and the site of an Ashokan pillar. Details of builders and dates for each monument are given in the History section.

For exam preparation

• Kathak has three gharanas: Lucknow, Jaipur and Banaras; the Lucknow school grew under the Awadh court.
• The state's main dialects are Awadhi, Braj, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Kanauji and Khari Boli.
• Lathmar Holi is played at Barsana and Nandgaon.
• Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi.
• Lucknow was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.
• The state's ODOP programme began on 24 January 2018.
• Uttar Pradesh leads all states in GI registrations (77 tags as reported in April 2025).

Tourism and places of interest

Uttar Pradesh draws more domestic visitors than any other state, according to the state's own budget booklet, mostly for religious tourism. Its seven holy towns of the Ganga-Yamuna plain, its Mughal monuments and its Buddhist sites make up three overlapping circuits: pilgrimage, heritage and Buddhist.

UNESCO and other designations

• Taj Mahal and Agra Fort: World Heritage Sites, inscribed 1983.
• Fatehpur Sikri: inscribed 1986.
• Sarnath (Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath): reported inscribed at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, in July 2026 (one report gives 25 July), as India's 45th property; the inscription covers the Chaukhandi Stupa and the archaeological remains including the Dhamek Stupa, Dharmarajika Stupa, Mulagandhakuti Vihara and the Ashokan pillar. The state's February 2026 booklet still said three sites, which fits the order of events.
• Tentative list: the Iconic Riverfront of the Historic City of Varanasi (2021), and Salkhan Fossil Park in Sonbhadra (stated in the booklet).
• Lucknow: UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, as stated in the booklet.
• Ramsar sites: see the Agriculture section.

Key sites

Place	What it is known for
Agra	Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and nearby Fatehpur Sikri
Varanasi	Ghats on the Ganga, Kashi Vishwanath temple (the temple corridor was unveiled on 13 December 2021)
Sarnath (Varanasi district)	Where the Buddha gave his first sermon; Dhamek Stupa
Ayodhya	Ram temple, whose consecration ceremony was held on 22 January 2024; Deepotsav
Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana	Krishna pilgrimage; Lathmar Holi
Prayagraj	Sangam of Ganga and Yamuna; Kumbh and Magh Mela
Lucknow	Awadhi monuments, cuisine and craft
Kushinagar	Buddhist site of the Buddha's final passing; international airport
Jhansi	Fort and the legacy of Rani Lakshmibai
Chitrakoot	Pilgrimage in the Vindhyan hills
Dudhwa and Pilibhit	Tiger reserves and Terai grassland

The state's booklet describes the 2025 Maha Kumbh as a 4,000-hectare temporary city with 450 km of internal roads and claims it drew over 66 crore pilgrims. It also reports tourist footfall tripling since 2016, a plan for 50,000 homestays, and 234 villages picked as rural tourism hubs. These are state claims. The Ram temple is a living pilgrimage site, so check local notices for darshan timings and entry rules.

For exam preparation

• The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort were inscribed in 1983 and Fatehpur Sikri in 1986.
• Sarnath was reported inscribed in 2026 as India's 45th World Heritage property.
• Varanasi's riverfront is on India's tentative list (2021).
• The Ram temple consecration took place on 22 January 2024.
• The Kashi Vishwanath corridor was unveiled on 13 December 2021.
• Sarnath is where the Buddha delivered his first sermon.

Education, health, sports and personalities

Uttar Pradesh has some of India's oldest and best-known institutions, with the biggest school system in the country and a fast-growing medical sector. The challenge is scale: 20 crore people means the state sits below the national average on many social indicators even as capacity expands.

Higher education

Institution	Place	Note
IIT Kanpur	Kanpur	Established 1959, first in the campus of Harcourt Butler Technological Institute
IIM Lucknow	Lucknow	Established 1984, the fourth IIM
Banaras Hindu University (BHU)	Varanasi	Central university, founded 1916; also houses IIT (BHU)
Aligarh Muslim University	Aligarh	Central university; roots in 1875, university status 1920
University of Allahabad	Prayagraj	Central university, 1887
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University	Lucknow	Central university, 1996
Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University	Jhansi	Central university
Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University	Raebareli	Central university
MNNIT Allahabad, IIIT Allahabad, IIIT Lucknow	Prayagraj, Lucknow	Institutes of national importance
Darul Uloom Deoband	Deoband	Major Islamic seminary

The central university list and the technical institutes list are from an education aggregator; check each institution's own site for formal status.

Health

AIIMS Raebareli started MBBS classes in 2019, and AIIMS Gorakhpur is also functional. The state's budget booklet reports 83 medical colleges with 7,350 MBBS seats in government, autonomous, central and private institutions, and the 2026-27 budget announced 16 new medical colleges, some on a public-private model, and three new state universities. NFHS-5 (2019-21) reported an infant mortality rate of 50 and an under-five mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births. We could not confirm the fertility rate, maternal mortality ratio or the state's literacy rate from a source we opened, so they are left out here (see Demography for Census 2011 figures). The booklet also reports that the state led the country in Ayushman Bharat claims paid, ₹3,341 crore in 2025-26, as a state statement.

Sports

Hockey is the state sport as listed on Wikipedia. Major Dhyan Chand of Prayagraj, three-time Olympic gold medallist in 1928, 1932 and 1936, is the state's most celebrated sportsperson, and his birthday, 29 August, is observed as National Sports Day. The Major Dhyan Chand State Sports University is at Meerut. The 2026-27 budget lists sports colleges in 10 divisions, a new building for that university and redevelopment of Green Park stadium in Kanpur. Greater Noida's Buddh International Circuit hosted Formula One's Indian Grand Prix from 2011 to 2013 (general knowledge, not re-checked).

Notable people (historical)

Person	Known for	Link to the state
Kabir	Poet-saint	Kashi (Varanasi)
Tulsidas	Ramcharitmanas	Awadhi region
Rani Lakshmibai	Leader in 1857	Born in Kashi, ruled Jhansi
Mangal Pandey	Sepoy of 1857	Ballia
Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan	Revolutionaries	Shahjahanpur
Munshi Premchand	Hindi-Urdu fiction	Born near Varanasi
Mahadevi Varma and Nirala	Poets	Prayagraj circle
Bismillah Khan	Shehnai	Varanasi
Ravi Shankar	Sitar	Varanasi
Dhyan Chand	Hockey	Prayagraj
Begum Akhtar	Ghazal and thumri	Faizabad (Ayodhya)

These pairings are general knowledge and were not re-opened for this section.

For exam preparation

• IIT Kanpur was established in 1959 and IIM Lucknow in 1984.
• BHU was founded in 1916 and Aligarh Muslim University received university status in 1920.
• AIIMS institutes in the state are at Raebareli and Gorakhpur.
• NFHS-5 (2019-21) gives infant mortality of 50 per 1,000 live births.
• Dhyan Chand won Olympic hockey gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936; National Sports Day is 29 August.
• The Major Dhyan Chand State Sports University is at Meerut.

Government schemes

Uttar Pradesh runs a mix of central schemes and its own programmes. The list below is from the state's February 2026 budget booklet, PRS and press reports as on October 2026. Amounts are budget figures, and eligibility rules change, so check the department notice before applying. Names of ministers are deliberately left out.

Scheme	What it gives	Eligibility and status
Kanya Sumangala Yojana	Staged cash support for girls, linked to birth and school stages	The budget booklet reports 26.81 lakh girls benefiting; the 2026-27 budget is reported to raise the marriage-related grant from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh, though a second source says ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh, so the exact change is not confirmed
Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan (CM YUVA)	Interest-free, collateral-free loans up to ₹5 lakh with 10% margin money subsidy	Young entrepreneurs in industry or services; the booklet reports 1.10 lakh beneficiaries in 2025-26; reported ₹1,000 crore in 2026-27
One District One Product (ODOP)	Loans, training and marketing for district clusters	All 75 districts, since 24 January 2018; loan portal promises decisions within 59 minutes for qualifying cases
Rani Laxmi Bai Scooty Yojana	Free petrol scooter for meritorious girl graduates	Cabinet approved on 21 July 2026, as reported, for about 50,000 graduates of 2025-26; ₹400 crore in the budget
Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme	Tablets and smartphones	Budget plan for 50 lakh devices; eligibility not confirmed
Mission Shakti	Women's safety and empowerment campaign	Phase 5.0 launched in 2025, per the booklet
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Employment and Industrial Zone	MSME industrial zones	New in 2026-27 budget; ₹575 crore (PRS)
Cane price support	₹30 per quintal higher cane price	For 2025-26, estimated ₹3,000 crore to farmers
PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana	Free foodgrain under the food security law	Central; priority and Antyodaya ration-card holders
PM Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, PM-JAY	Housing, tap water and ₹5 lakh health cover	Central schemes with state allocations of ₹12,434 crore (PMAY 2.0), ₹15,060 crore (JJM) in the booklet
PM-KISAN	₹6,000 a year income support	Eligible farmer families; central
PM Surya Ghar	Rooftop solar subsidy	Households; the state reports over 1 GW installed

The state says it leads the country in the number of accounts under the Jan Dhan, Suraksha Bima, Jeevan Jyoti and Atal Pension schemes and in PM SVANidhi loans, per the booklet; these are claims in a government document.

For exam preparation

• ODOP covers all 75 districts and began on 24 January 2018.
• CM YUVA offers interest-free loans up to ₹5 lakh without collateral.
• Kanya Sumangala is the state's girl-child cash-support scheme.
• Mission Shakti is the state's women-safety campaign (phase 5.0 in 2025).
• The 2026-27 budget announced a free scooter scheme for meritorious girl students (₹400 crore).
• PM-KISAN pays ₹6,000 a year to eligible farmers.

Government exams in Uttar Pradesh

Government recruitment in Uttar Pradesh runs through five main bodies. The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) picks officers for the top state services and the judicial service. The Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC) fills Group C posts and runs the common Preliminary Eligibility Test. The Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB) selects constables and sub-inspectors. The Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC) selects teachers for a large part of the state's school and college system. The Allahabad High Court recruits its own staff. Numbers of posts, dates, fees and age limits change with every advertisement, so treat every figure below as a pointer and check the latest notification before you apply.

We do not yet have exam guide pages for these exams. What we do have is a full mock test series for UP Police Constable, a state jobs listing for Uttar Pradesh and the complete mock test catalogue.

Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC)

UPPSC was created on 1 April 1937 and has its headquarters in Prayagraj (10, Kasturba Gandhi Marg). It is a constitutional body: Articles 315 to 323 in Part XIV of the Constitution provide for Public Service Commissions in the states. It recruits through interviews alone, through written tests plus interview, and through the Prelims, Mains and Interview route.

Its best-known exam is the Combined State/Upper Subordinate Services Examination, called UP PCS (Provincial Civil Service). The posts reported for the 2026 cycle include Deputy Collector (SDM), Deputy Superintendent of Police, Block Development Officer and Assistant Commissioner (Commercial Tax). The scheme has three stages:

Stage	What it is
Prelims	Two objective papers, 2 hours each. General Studies Paper I has 150 questions for 200 marks. Paper II (the aptitude test, often called CSAT) has 100 questions for 200 marks and is qualifying (33 per cent). One-third mark is deducted per wrong answer. Prelims marks do not count in the final merit.
Mains	Descriptive. As reported for the recent pattern: General Hindi (150 marks), Essay (150 marks) and six General Studies papers of 200 marks each, three hours per paper, for a total of 1,500.
Interview	Personality test of 100 marks. Final merit is Mains plus Interview, 1,600 marks in all.

One source we opened described the Mains as having only four General Studies papers plus optional subjects, which is an older pattern. The six-paper structure above is what two other sources describe for the current scheme; read the rules attached to your notification to be sure.

For the 2026 cycle, secondary sources report a notification on 25 June 2026, applications until 27 July 2026 and a Prelims on 6 December 2026. We have not seen the commission's own notice for these dates, so confirm them on the UPPSC site. The same sources give the age band as 21 to 40 on 1 July 2026 and a bachelor's degree as the qualification. Application fees were reported as Rs 125 for General, OBC and EWS, Rs 65 for SC and ST and Rs 25 for persons with disabilities; check the notice.

UPPSC also conducts the Civil Judge (Junior Division) exam, called PCS-J, for the state judicial service. Reported pattern: a Prelims of two objective papers (General Knowledge 150 marks and Law 300 marks, 450 in all, with one-third negative marking) that only screens candidates, then a six-paper Mains of 1,000 marks and an interview. A law degree is the qualification. The commission also runs exams for engineers, forest officers, agriculture services, lecturers and other technical posts.

Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC)

UPSSSC, based in Lucknow, recruits for Group C (and some Group B) posts in departments such as revenue, health, rural development and forests. Its Group C vacancies cover posts like Junior Assistant, Lekhpal, Forest Guard and Pharmacist, though which posts are open depends on each notice.

The commission's key gate is the Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET). Candidates for most Group C posts must first clear PET, then sit the post-specific exam or a document and skill stage. Reported facts:

• Pattern: an offline test of 100 multiple-choice questions for 100 marks in 2 hours, with a quarter mark deducted per wrong answer.
• Level: Class 10 qualification and high-school-level syllabus.
• Validity: the score is valid for three years from the date the result or score is uploaded. Secondary sources say successful candidates of the September 2025 PET can use the score until 2028.
• Latest cycle: held on 6 and 7 September 2025, with the result reported on 9 December 2025.
• Age: reported as 18 to 40 years on 1 July of the year of the notice.

PET is only an eligibility screen; the PET score is not a ranking for the final job. In most Group C recruitments the PET score is used to shortlist candidates who then take a Mains or skill test, so the final merit is built from the later stages. Check each post's notice for how the PET score is used.

Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB)

The board (also written UPPBPB, after its website name) recruits non-gazetted police personnel for the Uttar Pradesh Police, which was set up in 1863 and is headquartered in Lucknow. It runs the exams for Constable (Civil Police, PAC and others), Sub-Inspector, Platoon Commander, Fire Officer, jail warder and related posts. Our mock series for the constable exam follows the paper below.

Constable. The most recent large cycle reported by secondary sources advertised 32,679 posts across civil police, PAC, armed police, special security force, women battalion and jail warder (male). The application window was reported as 31 December 2025 to 30 January 2026 and the written exam as 8 to 10 June 2026 in two shifts a day. The pay level reported is level 3, Rs 21,700 to Rs 69,100. Selection has four stages: written test, document verification, Physical Standard Test (PST) and Physical Efficiency Test (PET).

Item	Reported detail
Written paper	150 multiple-choice questions, 300 marks, 2 marks each, one quarter mark deducted per wrong answer
Duration	Reported as 150 minutes in one source and 2 hours in another; check the admit card
Subjects	General Knowledge, General Hindi, Numerical Ability, Mental Aptitude/Reasoning (an earlier pattern split of about 38, 37, 38 and 37 questions)
Qualification	Class 12 pass, as reported
Age	Reported as 18 to 28 years for men and 18 to 31 for women in the 2025-26 notice, with relaxations; not the same as in earlier cycles
Running test	Reported as 4.8 km in 25 minutes for men and 2.4 km in 14 minutes for women

Sub-Inspector. The 2021 cycle, the one we could check, asked for a bachelor's degree, an age of 21 to 28 years, an online written exam of 400 marks, document verification and a physical efficiency test. Cycles differ, so treat that as background only.

Note that the Police Recruitment Board is headed by an officer of the rank of Director General; the post is filled by the state government and we do not name the holder.

Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission (UPESSC)

UPESSC was created by the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission Act, 2023 (Act 15 of 2023), which received the Governor's assent on 17 August 2023. It selects teachers for non-government aided colleges, aided minority colleges, aided intermediate colleges, higher secondary schools and high schools, and for schools run by the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board. It is described as the successor to older bodies for higher education and secondary education selections. It advertised Assistant Professor posts (1,936 vacancies across 42 disciplines, as reported); for TGT, PGT and other teacher recruitments check the commission's website for the live notice.

Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET)

UPTET is conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board and is the eligibility test for teaching classes 1 to 8 in the state. Paper 1 is for classes 1 to 5 and Paper 2 for classes 6 to 8. Each paper has 150 multiple-choice questions of one mark in 2 hours 30 minutes, with no negative marking. Paper 1 covers Child Development and Pedagogy, Language I (Hindi), Language II (English, Urdu or Sanskrit), Mathematics and Environmental Studies at 30 marks each. Paper 2 has Child Development, two languages and a 60-mark Mathematics and Science or Social Studies section. Qualifying marks are reported as 90 (60 per cent) for General candidates and 82 (55 per cent) for reserved candidates. We could not confirm the certificate's validity or the date of the latest exam; check the board.

Allahabad High Court and others

The Allahabad High Court recruits its own staff (clerks, stenographers, assistants, drivers and similar posts) through its own notices on the court's website, and the district judiciary recruits through the district judge's office. Civil Judge posts, however, come through UPPSC (above). Many departments such as health, power, transport and the revenue board also run recruitment directly; a monthly look at the Uttar Pradesh state jobs page saves time.

For exam preparation

• UPPSC was created on 1 April 1937 and sits in Prayagraj; the Constitution's Articles 315 to 323 provide for Public Service Commissions.
• UP PCS has three stages: Prelims (two papers of 200 marks, Paper II qualifying), Mains and a 100-mark interview.
• UPSSSC's PET is a 100-question, 100-mark test with a quarter-mark negative and a three-year score validity.
• The constable written paper has 150 questions of 2 marks each (300 marks) with a quarter-mark negative.
• UPESSC was set up by Act 15 of 2023 to select teachers for aided institutions and basic education schools.
• UPTET has two papers of 150 marks each, no negative marking.

Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules

In Uttar Pradesh recruitment, being a domiciled (resident) candidate matters mostly for reservation and age relaxation, not for the right to sit the exam. This section sets out the rules as reported in the pages we opened; the notice of each exam and the government orders it cites override everything here.

Domicile and residence

Most state recruitments are open to Indian citizens. The reported rule is that reserved-category benefits go only to candidates of Uttar Pradesh: a candidate from another state is treated as General (unreserved) even if the person belongs to SC, ST or OBC in the home state. Age relaxation is likewise reported to be available only to domiciled candidates. For PET we found no explicit domicile restriction. Domicile certificates are issued by revenue authorities; one source says residence of at least three years in the district, or parents who are permanent residents, can support a certificate. Treat that as a pointer and check the district's list of documents.

Reservation in state services

Category	Share in state services (reported)
Scheduled Castes (SC)	21 per cent
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	2 per cent
Other Backward Classes (OBC)	27 per cent
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10 per cent
Unreserved	40 per cent

The first three come from the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. EWS reservation was approved by the state cabinet on 18 January 2019. The total is 60 per cent, which sits above the 50 per cent ceiling often discussed, because EWS was added on top by the 103rd Constitutional Amendment. We could not open the Act itself, as the India Code site refused our request, so confirm the percentages from the government order cited in your notice. The central-government figures (15 per cent SC and 7.5 per cent ST) are different and do not apply to state posts; one search result wrongly listed them for UP, which is why we cross-checked.

Other rules reported:

• OBC candidates must be in the non-creamy layer to claim the quota.
• EWS candidates must have a family income below Rs 8 lakh and cannot already be under SC, ST or OBC.
• Horizontal reservations cut across the categories: women 20 per cent, ex-servicemen 5 per cent, persons with disabilities 4 per cent and dependents of freedom fighters 2 per cent. These come from one secondary source, and the percentages differ by post, so verify them.

The Allahabad High Court refused to extend the EWS benefit to the 69,000 assistant teacher recruitment, as reported. This shows that dispute over how quotas apply can follow a recruitment for years.

Age relaxation

The general age band for UP PCS is reported as 21 to 40 on 1 July 2026. The reported relaxation is 5 years for SC, ST and OBC candidates of Uttar Pradesh domicile, 5 years for ex-servicemen (sources vary; one says service period plus 3 years) and up to 15 years for persons with disabilities. UPSSSC PET is reported as 18 to 40 years. The constable band is reported as 18 to 28 for men and 18 to 31 for women. Because the base age changes between cycles, never rely on a relaxation figure without the age on the notice.

Selection stages and cycles

Stages are typically a screening or Prelims, a Mains or main test, a physical or skill stage where relevant, document verification and an interview for officer posts. UPPSC lists its exams in an annual calendar on its site. UPSSSC and UPPRPB advertise by post. We do not give typical vacancy numbers because we could not verify them; read the notice.

For exam preparation

• Reserved-category benefits in UP state jobs apply only to UP domiciled candidates; others compete as General.
• Reported state reservation: SC 21, ST 2, OBC 27, EWS 10 per cent.
• OBC quota needs non-creamy layer status; EWS needs income below Rs 8 lakh.
• PET and PCS age limits are reported as 40 years; always verify on the notice.

How to use this guide for exam preparation

This page is a state-level reference. It will not teach a full syllabus, but it covers the Uttar Pradesh section that appears in Prelims and in the GK portion of constable, PET and other Group C papers. The sections below are the most useful. Read them against the actual syllabus of your exam, since each body publishes its own.

High-yield sections

• History: United Provinces, 1857, the freedom movement, the 1950 formation and the 2000 reorganisation that created Uttarakhand.
• Geography and administration: Ganga and Yamuna, Triveni Sangam, the 75 districts and 18 divisions, neighbours.
• Government, legislature and judiciary: Vidhan Sabha 403, Vidhan Parishad 100, Lok Sabha 80 with 17 SC seats, the High Court and its Lucknow bench.
• Elections: the table of Vidhan Sabha results is a favourite for Mains and interviews.
• This part: exam bodies, reservation and age rules, and the rapid-fire table below.

A four-week plan on this page

Week 1: Land and people. Read history, geography, administration and demography. Make a one-page map of rivers, divisions and neighbouring states. Memorise the formation dates in the rapid-fire table.

Week 2: Government and politics. Read the governance, legislature and judiciary, elections and past office-holders sections. Learn structure (articles, seat counts, how offices are filled) rather than names, since incumbents change. Check current affairs for who holds each office today.

Week 3: Economy, society and culture. Read the economy, agriculture, transport, culture and tourism sections. Tables of festivals, tribes, crafts and places travel well in a short revision.

Week 4: Schemes, exams and mocks. Read schemes and this part, then take timed practice. If you are preparing for the police exam, use the UP Police Constable mock series; for other exams browse all mock tests.

Common traps

• Mixing up the capital (Lucknow) with the High Court seat (Prayagraj). The court also has a permanent bench at Lucknow.
• Confusing UPPSC (officers, Prayagraj) with UPSSSC (Group C, Lucknow) and with UPPRPB (police).
• Treating PET as a final merit exam. It is a screening test with a three-year score validity.
• Using central reservation figures (15 and 7.5 per cent) for state posts, or old pre-2000 facts that include Uttarakhand.
• Using a demographic figure without its year. Census 2011 is still the latest published census.
• Memorising a vacancy number or date from a blog. Check the notice.

If you are comparing states, see our guides on Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which use the same layout.

For exam preparation

• Read the rapid-fire table daily in the last week and test yourself covering the answer column.
• Learn structures and constitutional articles, not office-holders; check current affairs for the latter.
• Tie every number to a year: Census 2011, an election year or an as-on date.
• Take at least two timed mocks a week from week 3.

Rapid-fire facts

Each row below was taken from a source we opened (listed in the last section). Facts that depend on a cycle or notification are marked "reported". Facts we could not confirm are left out and listed in the verification section.

Fact	Answer
Uttar Pradesh named as a state	24 January 1950
Predecessor of Uttar Pradesh	United Provinces
Earlier name of the United Provinces	United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
Year the earlier name was shortened	1937
Capital	Lucknow
Judicial seat (High Court)	Prayagraj
Area	243,286 sq km
Rank by area	Fourth largest state
Population (Census 2011)	199,812,341
Rank by population	Most populous state
Number of divisions (as on October 2026)	18
Number of districts (as on October 2026)	75
Bordering states	Nine states, and Nepal
Official language	Hindi
Additional official language	Urdu
State animal	Barasingha (swamp deer)
State bird	Sarus crane
State flower	Palash
State tree	Ashoka
Rivers meeting at Prayagraj	Ganga and Yamuna
Place where they meet	Triveni Sangam
Vidhan Sabha seats	403
Year the 403 total was set	Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000
Legislative Assembly first constituted	1 April 1937
Members of first Assembly (1937)	228
First post-independence session began	2 February 1950
Seat of the Vidhan Sabha	Vidhan Bhavan, Lucknow
Vidhan Parishad total seats	100
Parishad members elected by MLAs	38
Parishad members elected by local authorities	36
Parishad members elected by graduates	8
Parishad members elected by teachers	8
Parishad members nominated by the Governor	10
Parishad term	Six years, one-third retire every second year
Lok Sabha seats	80
SC-reserved Lok Sabha seats	17
ST-reserved Lok Sabha seats	0
Share of Lok Sabha seats	14.73 per cent, the largest of any state
Rajya Sabha seats	31
High Court	Allahabad High Court (Prayagraj)
High Court established	17 March 1866 at Agra
High Court moved to Allahabad	1875
Chief Court of Oudh merged with High Court	1948
High Court circuit bench	Lucknow
Sanctioned judges (reported)	160 (76 permanent, 84 additional), the highest in India
UPPSC created	1 April 1937
UPPSC headquarters	Prayagraj
Constitutional articles for State PSCs	315 to 323
UPSSSC headquarters	Lucknow
UPSSSC role	Group C and some Group B recruitment
UP Police established	1863
UP Police headquarters	Lucknow
UPESSC Act	Act 15 of 2023
UPESSC Act assented to	17 August 2023
UPESSC selects teachers for	Aided colleges, schools and basic education schools
UPTET conducted by	UP Basic Education Board
UPTET paper length	150 questions, 150 marks
UPTET duration	2 hours 30 minutes
UPTET negative marking	None
UPTET Paper 1 level	Classes 1 to 5
UPTET Paper 2 level	Classes 6 to 8
UPTET qualifying marks (reported)	90 General, 82 reserved
UP PCS Prelims Paper I	150 questions, 200 marks
UP PCS Prelims Paper II	100 questions, 200 marks, qualifying
UP PCS Prelims negative marking	One-third
UP PCS Prelims counts for merit	No
UP PCS Mains (reported)	1,500 marks
UP PCS Interview	100 marks
UP PCS final merit total (reported)	1,600 marks
UP PCS age band (reported, 2026)	21 to 40
UP PCS 2026 Prelims date (reported)	6 December 2026
PCS-J Prelims total (reported)	450 marks
PCS-J Mains total (reported)	1,000 marks
PET questions	100
PET marks	100
PET duration	2 hours
PET negative marking	One quarter
PET minimum qualification	Class 10
PET score validity	Three years
Latest PET date (reported)	6 and 7 September 2025
Latest PET result (reported)	9 December 2025
Constable written paper	150 questions, 300 marks
Constable marks per question	2
Constable negative marking	One quarter
Constable stages	Written, document check, PST, PET
Constable pay level (reported)	Level 3, Rs 21,700 to Rs 69,100
Constable cycle posts (reported)	32,679
Constable running test, men (reported)	4.8 km in 25 minutes
Constable running test, women (reported)	2.4 km in 14 minutes
Vertical reservation: SC	21 per cent
Vertical reservation: ST	2 per cent
Vertical reservation: OBC	27 per cent
Vertical reservation: EWS	10 per cent
EWS income limit	Below Rs 8 lakh family income
Total vertical reservation	60 per cent
Women's horizontal reservation (reported)	20 per cent
EWS approved by UP cabinet	18 January 2019
Reservation Act	UP Public Services (Reservation) Act, 1994
Age relaxation SC/ST/OBC (domiciled, reported)	5 years
Age relaxation for disability (reported)	Up to 15 years

Frequently asked questions

How many stages are there in the UP PCS exam?

Three: a Prelims of two objective papers, a descriptive Mains and an interview of 100 marks. Prelims marks do not count in the final merit.

What is the UP PCS Prelims pattern?

General Studies Paper I has 150 questions for 200 marks and Paper II has 100 questions for 200 marks. Paper II is qualifying at 33 per cent. One-third mark is deducted for a wrong answer.

What is the age limit for UP PCS?

The 2026 cycle was reported as 21 to 40 on 1 July 2026, with 5 years of relaxation for domiciled SC, ST and OBC candidates. Check the latest notification.

What is UP PET?

The Preliminary Eligibility Test is run by UPSSSC for Group C posts. It has 100 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours and a quarter-mark negative. It tests Class 10 level knowledge.

How long is the PET score valid?

Three years. For the September 2025 test, secondary sources say the score can be used until 2028. Confirm on the UPSSSC site.

Is PET a final selection exam?

No. It is a screening test. For most posts you pass PET and then sit the post-specific exam or skill stage. Read each notice for how the PET score is used.

Who conducts the UP Police constable exam?

The Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board. The written paper is followed by document verification, a physical standard test and a physical efficiency test.

What is the UP Police constable exam pattern?

150 questions of 2 marks each, 300 marks, with one quarter mark deducted per wrong answer. Subjects are General Knowledge, General Hindi, Numerical Ability and Mental Aptitude. Practise with our UP Police Constable mock series.

What qualification is needed for a UP Police constable?

Class 12 pass was reported for the 2025-26 notice. Age was reported as 18 to 28 for men and 18 to 31 for women. Check the notice.

How many vacancies are there in UP Police?

The latest cycle was reported at 32,679 posts. Vacancy numbers change with every notification, so check the latest one.

What does UPESSC do?

It selects teachers for aided colleges, aided intermediate and secondary schools and Basic Education Board schools. It was created by the Education Service Selection Commission Act, 2023.

What is the UPTET pattern?

Two papers (classes 1 to 5 and 6 to 8) of 150 questions each, 150 marks, 2 hours 30 minutes, no negative marking. Reported qualifying marks are 60 per cent for General and 55 per cent for reserved categories.

What is the reservation in UP government jobs?

SC 21 per cent, ST 2 per cent, OBC 27 per cent and EWS 10 per cent, as reported, with horizontal quotas for women, ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities and others.

Do candidates from other states get reservation in UP?

As reported, no. A candidate from another state competes as General even if in a reserved category at home.

Where is the UP High Court?

The principal seat is Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), with a permanent bench in Lucknow.

Which body conducts judicial service exams in UP?

UPPSC conducts the Civil Judge (Junior Division) exam, PCS-J.

How many Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats does UP have?

80 Lok Sabha seats, of which 17 are reserved for SC, and 403 Vidhan Sabha seats. The Vidhan Parishad has 100 members.

Where can I find UP government jobs on this site?

On the state jobs listing for Uttar Pradesh. Mock tests are in the test series.

Sources and verification

Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, district count) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data and the 2026-27 budget is from PRS Legislative Research and the state's budget booklet; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census.

Facts verified on 4 October 2026. Where a figure came only from a secondary source, or sources disagreed, the text says "reported" or gives both figures. Census 2011 is still the latest published census. We name no sitting office-holders; for incumbents see current affairs.

Pages we opened:

• UPPSC official website (uppsc.up.nic.in), homepage navigation only.
• Careers360, UPPSC PCS 2026 page and UP Police Constable Recruitment 2026 news page.
• Wikipedia, as a cross-check only: Uttar Pradesh; Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission; Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission; Uttar Pradesh Police; Allahabad High Court; Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly; Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council; List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha; Reservation in India.
• MySarkariNaukri, UP Government Job Reservation Rules page.
• Web search result summaries (not full pages) for the pattern of UPPSC PCS, UPSSSC PET, UP Police constable and SI, UPTET, UP PCS-J, UPESSC and the Allahabad High Court amalgamation of 1948.

Pages that failed to open: upsssc.gov.in (certificate error) and the India Code PDF of the 1994 reservation Act (access refused).