Here is the snippet, for demo i am pulling the List of States and its ID from the database

ddl_State.DataSource = GetAllStates();
ddl_State.DataTextField = “Title”;
ddl_State.DataValueField = “StateID”;
ddl_State.DataBind();

ddl_State.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem(“Select State”, “”)); // I am inserting Empty Value at the top of the dropdownlist

ddl_State.SelectedIndex = 0; // I am selecting the firs item

If you want to add an item to the dropdownlist then use Add method

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DropDownList1.Items.Add(new ListItem(“Tamil Nadu”,”tamil-nadu”));
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