The system of urban government was constitutionalised through the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992. Before this, a variety to systems existed in various locations.

Evolution of urban local bodies:

Pre-British Era:

• The origin of local self-government was deeply rooted in ancient India.
• Texts like Vedas, Manusmriti, Arthasastra and records of some travellers like Megasthenes also mention the origin of local self-government.
• In the Epic era, texts like Ramayana and Mahabharata also pointed to several forms of local self-government, such as Paura (guild), Nigama, Gana, etc. They used to perform various administrative and legislative functions.

British Era:

• Urban local government institutions developed in modern India during the British era. Some major events in this context are as follows:
• Municipal governance in India in its current form has existed since 1664.

Post-independence Era / Way to constitutionalisation:

• Urban local bodies received consistent policy attention from various committees that were set up to suggest ways to improve the urban local bodies.PK Wattal, John Mathai, AP Jain, Rafiq Zakaria, KN Sahaya are prominent among them.
• In August 1989, the Rajiv Gandhi government introduced the 65th constitutional amendment or Nagarpalika Bill in the Lok Sabha. The bill aimed at strengthening and revamping the municipal bodies by conferring a constitutional status on them. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha but was defeated in the Rajya Sabha in October 1989 and lapsed.
• The National Front Government, under the prime ministership of  V P Singh, introduced the revised Nagarpalika Bill in the Lok Sabha again in September 1990. However, the bill was not passed and finally lapsed due to the premature dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
• In September 1991, P V Narasimha Rao’s Government introduced the modified Municipalities Bill in the Lok Sabha, which emerged as the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 and came into force on 1 June 1993.

74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992:

• Through this act, a constitutional status was given to the municipalities, and from now state governments are under constitutional liability to adopt the new system following the act’s provisions.
• This act added A new Part IX-A to the Constitution of India. This part consists of provisions from Articles 243-P to 243-ZG.
• The act has also added a new Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution, which contains eighteen functional items of municipalities. It deals with Article 243-W.