Amaravati, April 6 – Amaravati has been formally designated as the sole and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh, with the Indian government issuing a gazette notification on Monday.
This followed the President, Droupadi Murmu, giving her assent to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament last week.
According to the gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026, shall come into effect on June 2, 2024.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026, amended the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
In the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, in section 5 (2), the words "and there shall be a new capital" have been replaced with "and Amaravati shall be the new capital".
The term "Amaravati" includes the capital city areas notified under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act, 2014, as stated in the Act's explanation.
The Parliament gave its final approval to the Amendment Bill on April 2, officially designating Amaravati.
The Rajya Sabha passed the bill through a voice vote, a day after the Lok Sabha cleared it.
This decision ends years of uncertainty and political maneuvering over the capital issue that arose after the 2014 bifurcation of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. It effectively rules out any future attempts to alter the capital's status or revive the previous three-capital model.
A total of 35 MPs participated in the debate on the bill. All MPs, except two from the YSR Congress Party, supported it.
The YSRCP opposed the bill, arguing that it failed to address the concerns of farmers who had donated land for the development of the state capital.
The foundation for Amaravati as the state capital was laid in 2015 when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was in power. However, after the YSRCP came to power in 2019, it halted all projects in Amaravati and proposed the idea of three capitals.
Following the TDP-led NDA coming to power in 2024, it decided to develop Amaravati as the sole capital. The projects were restarted last year.