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States, Governors and state governance — UPSC Prelims PYQs

15 questions in this bank come from States, Governors and state governance, spanning UPSC Prelims papers from 2013 to 2025. Every question here carries all four options, the correct answer and a full explanation.

It has appeared in 10 of the last 16 papers, most heavily in 2025 with 4 questions. That is a steady presence rather than a guaranteed one.

The themes examined most often within it are Governor's Powers and Constitutional Role (11), Political structures and governance (3), State Administration and Structure (3), Affiliated organizations and their roles (1) and Cabinet form of Government principles (1). Those counts are of questions in which the theme is examined, not merely mentioned.

Between them they draw on 17 distinct themes, so this is a broader area than a single revision note can cover. That is 1.0% of the 1433 questions in the bank — useful for deciding how much revision time it deserves.

Its weight has held steady, at roughly 1.2 questions a year across the last five papers.

It was not examined in 6 of those papers. Each question below links to its full explanation and to related questions on the same theme from other years, so a weak area can be worked through in one pass rather than hunted for paper by paper.

UPSC Prelims 20254 questions

UPSC Prelims 20231 question

UPSC Prelims 20211 question

UPSC Prelims 20192 questions

UPSC Prelims 20181 question

UPSC Prelims 20171 question

UPSC Prelims 20161 question

UPSC Prelims 20152 questions

UPSC Prelims 20141 question

UPSC Prelims 20131 question

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