boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and conveniences to the public; and
- (c) constituencies in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 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.
- (3) The Election Commission shall, for the purpose of assisting it in the performance of its functions under sub-section (1), associate with itself as associate members, four persons as the Central Government may by order specify, being persons who are the members of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir or four members of the House of the People representing the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir: Provided that none of the associate members shall have a right to vote or to sign any decision of the Election Commission.
- (4) If, owing to death or resignation, the office of an associate member falls vacant, it shall be filled as far as practicable, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3).
- (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; and
- (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 there 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 relating to assembly constituencies shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Power of Election Commission to maintain Delimitation Orders up-to date. 61. (1) The Election Commission may by notification in the Official Gazette,—
- (a) correct any printing mistakes in any order made under section 60 or any error
arising therein from inadvertent slip or omission; and
- (b) where the boundaries or name of any territorial division mentioned in any
such order or orders is or are altered, make such amendments as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for bringing such order up-to-date.
- (2) Every notification under this section relating to an assembly constituency shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is issued, before the Legislative Assembly.
Special provision as to readjustment of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies on the basis of 2011 census. 62. (1) On and from the appointed day, notwithstanding the publication of orders under sub-section (1) of section 10 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 or anything contained in sub-section (2) or sub-section (4) of the said section, the Delimitation Act, 2002 shall be deemed to have been amended as provided below:33 of 2002.
- (a) in section 2(f), the words “but does not include the State of Jammu and Kashmir” shall be omitted; and
- (b) for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies, the words and figure “census held in the year 2001”, wherever occurring, shall be construed as words and figure “census held in the year 2011”.
