(1) The Election Commission shall, in the manner herein provided, distribute, whether before or after the appointed day, the seats in the House of the People allotted to the State of Himachal Pradesh under section 14 and the seats assigned to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Himachal Pradesh under section 15 to single-member territorial constituencies and delimit them on the basis of the latest census figures, having regard to the provisions of the Constitution and to the following provisions, namely:—
         (a) all constituencies shall, as far as practicable, be geographically compact areas, and in delimiting them regard shall be had to physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience;
         (b) every assembly constituency shall be so delimited as to fall wholly within one parliamentary constituency;
         (c) constituencies in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes shall be distributed in different parts of the State and located, as far as practicable, in those areas where the proportion of their population to the total population is comparatively large; and
         (d) constituencies in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes shall, as far as practicable, be located in areas where the proportion of their population to the total population is the largest.
     Explanation.—In this section, 'latest census figures" mean the census figures with respect to the existing Union territory of Himachal Pradesh or, as the case may be, of the State of Himachal Pradesh ascertainable from the latest census of which the finally published figures are available.
     (2) For the purpose of assisting it in the performance of its functions under sub-section (1), the Election Commission shall associate with itself as associate members,—
         ¹ [(a) all the persons (or as many of them as are available) who having been elected from parliamentary constituencies in the Union territory of Himachal Pradesh, were members of the House of the People immediately before its dissolution by the order of the President published with notification No. 37/2/70/T, dated the 27th December, 1970, of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, in the Gazette of India, dated the 27th December, 1970, or if the delimitation of any constituencies is taken up after the first constitution, following such dissolution, of the House of the People, all the members elected to such House (or as many of them as are available) from parliamentary constituencies in the State of Himachal Pradesh; and]
         (b) such six of the members of the Legislative Assembly of the existing Union territory of Himachal Pradesh or, as the case may be, of the State of Himachal Pradesh referred to in section 10 as the Speaker thereof may nominate:
     Provided that none of the associate membersshall have a right to vote or to sign any decision of the Election Commission.
     (3) If owing to death or resignation, the office of an associate member falls vacant, it shall be filled, if practicable, in accordance with the provisions ofsub-section (2).
     (4) The Election Commission shall—
         (a) publish its proposals for the delimitation of constituencies, together with the dissenting proposals, if any, of any associate member who desires publication thereof, in the Official Gazette and in such other manner as the Commission may consider fit, together with a notice inviting objections and suggestions in relation to the proposals and specifying a date on or after which the proposals will be further considered by it;
         (b) consider all objections and suggestions which may have been received by it before the date so specified;
         (c) after considering all objections and suggestions which may have been received by it before the date so specified, determine by one or more orders the delimitation of constituencies and cause such order or orders to be published in the Official Gazette; and upon such publication, the order or ordersshall have the full force of law and shall not be called in question in any court.
     (5) As soon as may be after such publication, every such order relating to parliamentary constituenciesshall be laid before the House of the People and every such order relating to assembly constituenciesshall be laid before the Legislative Assembly.