History of Ballia District as an administrative unit begins with the year 1879. Asaf-ud-Daula, the nawab vizier of Awadh, made a formal cession of the sovereignty of the province of Benaras (Varanasi) to the East India Company in 1775. The tract remained in his possession till 1794, when Raja Mahip Narayan Singh surrendered its control to the Governor General. In 1818 the Pargana of Doaba, which had been a part of Bihia in district Shahabad of Bihar, was transferred to the revenue sub-division of Ghazipur which shortly afterwards was separated from Benaras (Varanasi) and became an independent district. It then comprised the whole of Ballia also.

Further, the history of Ballia District states that in 1832 a redistribution of territory was made and Pargana Sikandarpur and Bhadaon were assigned to Azamgarh. Again in 1837 portions of Kopachit and Kharid were assigned to the same district. For some time no further changes took place and the Ballia tehsil, comprising Ballia, Doaba and Kharid Parganas, formed a subdivisions of Ghazipur. On 1st of November, 1879, a new district that is Ballia District was created by adding to the old sub-division the Parganas of Lakhnesar and Kopachit from the Rasra tehsil and those of Bhadaon and Sikandarpur from tehsil Nagra of Azamgarh. These Parganas constituted a new tehsil with headquarters at Rasra.

On 10th April, 1882 a third tehsil, Bansdih, was formed out of Pargana Kharid and 225 villages of Sikandarpur, and it was named as Sikandarpur East. At the same time 212 villages of Kopachit were transferred to Ballia and made into the new Pargana of Kopachit East. The last important change took place on 9th March, 1892, when 168 villages of Garha Pargana, together with Saraikota of Muhammadabad, were included in the Ballia tehsil. In the same year the boundary of Garha was extended so as to include the large village of Narainpur and two others. On 9th June, 1892 Diara Khawaspur village was transferred from Bhojpur in Bihar to Ballia. In 1931, 39 villages of Pargana Ballia were transferred from Ballia to Bhojpur District of Bihar, when 10 villages were also transferred from district Bhojpur to Ballia. History of Ballia District states that a further change took place in 1970, when 31 villages were added to tehsil Bansdih from district Saran of Bihar and 14 villages were transferred from tehsil Bansdih to Saran District.