RAS question
Which of the following Union Territories has its own Legislative Assembly?
Correct answer: (D) Puducherry.
Puducherry is a Union Territory of India with its own Legislative Assembly.
Explanation
Puducherry is the right answer because the Ministry of Home Affairs identifies only three Union Territories as having Legislative Assemblies: Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The same MHA page states that the remaining five Union Territories are without legislatures. This is the constitutional distinction tested in the question: Union Territories are normally administered by the Union through administrators, but a small set has an elected legislature. Among the four options given, Puducherry is the only one that falls in the legislature-bearing category. Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu are treated as Union Territories without their own Legislative Assemblies.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is not among the Union Territories listed by MHA as having a Legislative Assembly, and it has no legislature after the merger.
- (B) Lakshadweep is counted among the Union Territories without legislatures, so it does not have its own Legislative Assembly.
- (C) Chandigarh is a Union Territory without a Legislative Assembly, so it is not in the same category as Puducherry, NCT of Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Concept
This tests the polity distinction between ordinary Union Territories and Union Territories with elected Legislative Assemblies. RAS repeatedly asks this because Union Territory administration is a core part of Indian constitutional governance and often appears through exception-based MCQs.