(1) The Election Commission shall, in the manner herein provided, distribute, whether before or after the appointed day, the seats assigned to the Legislative Assemblies of the States of Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya under section 20 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:—
         (a) all constituencies shall, so 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 only within one parliamentary constituency;
         (c) constituencies in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes shall be distributed in different parts of the States 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 those areas where the proportion of their population to the total population is the largest.
     Explanation.—In this section "latest census figures" means the census figures with respect to the State concerned ascertainable from the latest census of which the finally published figures are available.
     (2) For the purpose of assisting in the performance of its functions under sub-section (1), the Election Commission shall associate with itself as associate members,—
         (a) in respect of the State of Manipur, all the sitting members of the House of the People representing the Union territory of Manipur or, as the case may be, the State of Manipur under sub-section (2) of section 15, and such six persons who were members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Manipur immediately before its dissolution by order of the President published in the Gazette of India, dated 16th October, 1969 with notification No. S. O. 4223, dated 16th October, 1969 of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs, as the President may, by order, nominate;
         (b) in respect of the State of Tripura, all the sitting members of the House of the People representing the Union territory of Tripura or, as the case may be, the State of Tripura under sub-section (2) of section 15, and such six persons, being members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Tripura as it functioned immediately before the 1st November, 1971, as the President may, by order, nominate;
         (c) in respect of the State of Meghalaya, the member of the House of the People representing the Autonomous Districts parliamentary constituency or, as the case may be, the Meghalaya parliamentary constituency under section 17, and such of the six members of the Legislative Assembly of the autonomous State of Meghalaya constituted under section 62 of the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act, 1969 ( 55 of 1969) or, as the case may be, of the Provisional Legislative Assembly of the State of Meghalaya referred to in section 27, as the President may, by order, nominate:
     Provided that none of the associate members shall 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 of sub-section (2).
     (4) A member of any Legislative Assembly nominated under clause (b) or clause (c) of sub-section (2) shall continue to be an associate member notwithstanding that he ceases to be a member of such Legislative Assembly, otherwise than consequent on the incurring of any disqualification.
     (5) 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 orders shall have the full force of law and shall not be called in question in any court.
     (6) As soon as may be after such publication, every such order shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly of the concerned State.