Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

Till 2019, the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir had its own constitution and thus enjoyed a special status by virtue of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In 2019, this special status was

abolished by a presidential order known as "The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019”. This order superseded the earlier order known as "The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954”. The 2019 order extended all the provisions of the Constitution of India to Jammu and Kashmir also. However, the inoperative Article 370 continue to remain in the text of the Constitution of India.

Further, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, bifurcated the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate union territories, namely, the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh.

The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir comprises all the districts of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir except the Kargil and Leh districts which have gone to the union territory of Ladakh.

Thus, the number of states and union territories increased from 14 and 6 in 1956 to 28 and 9 in 2019, respectively20 .