PART I - Union and its Territory (Article 1 - 4)

Part I of the Constitution defines India as a 'Union of States' and its territories. It empowers Parliament to establish new states, or modify existing ones. It comprises of four articles. When the constitution came into force on January 26, 1950 India become a Union of States with extensive autonomy and Union Territories administered by the Centre. Under the constitution there were four kinds of states - Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D States.

Part A states - the former Governor's provinces of British India.

Part B states - former princely states

Part C states - former Chief Commissioner's provinces and a few princely states.

Part D states - It contained the state led by lieutenant governor.

The voting right has been granted to every citizen of 18 years or more without any discrimination as to caste, creed, religion, race, gender or place of birth. Demand of states on linguistic basis was developed even before independence of india. 

Reorganisation of States

The Constituent Assembly appointed the S K Dhar Commission in November 1947 to study the issue of the reorganisation of the states on linguistic basis. The commission preferred reorganisation for administrative convenience rather than on linguistic basis. In December 1948, JVP Commission (Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhabhai Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya) was appointed to solve the issue. It also didn't favour the idea of the linguistic reorganisation. The movement to create states based on languages gained momentum in the early 1950s starting with the demand for a separate state for Telugu - speaking people. But due to the violent agitation, fast and death of Potti Sriramulu, the government was forced to create Andhra Pradesh as the first state on language basis in 1953. As the agitation took a violent turn to States Reorganisation Commission under Fazal Ali was appointed and it accepted the language as the basis of the reorganisation of the states. On the basis of its report, the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was passed. The act came into effect on November 1, 1956. Under this Act and seventh constitutional amendment act the distinction between Part A, B and C states was eliminated and state boundaries were reorganised and new states and Union Territories were created or dissolved. As a result 14 states and 6 Union Territories were created on November 1, 1956. Now there are 28 states and 8 union territories in India. Article 3 lays down that Parliament may form new states, reduce or extend the areas of states and change the name and the boundaries of states. A bill related to the above matters can be introduced in the parliament only with the prior recommendations of the President who shall consult the concerned states before giving his recommendations. Language continued to be the basis for new states. Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created in 2000 and Telangana was created in 2014.

Articles 1 - 4 of Indian Constitution

Article 1

Articles 1 of the Constitution defines India as a 'Union of States' and its territories. Article 1 divides the territory of India into states, union territories and territories acquired by the Government of India. The power to form a new state lies with the Parliament.

Article 2

Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

Article 3

Article 3 deals with the formation of new states. The powers conferred on the Parliament by Article 3 are as follows:

■ A new state may be formed by the separation of territory from any state or by the amalgamation of two or more states or parts of states.

■ The area of ​​any state may be increased.

■ The area of ​​any state may be reduced.

■ The boundaries of any state may be altered.

■ The name of any state may be changed.

Article 4

Laws created in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 that change the First and Fourth Schedules as well as other additional, incidental, and consequential matters.