Section 54 in The Government of Union Territories Act, 1963
54. Provisions as to provisional Legislative Assembly of certain Union territories.
(1)In this section "constituency" means -(a)in each of the Union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, a territorial council constituency provided in accordance with the provisions of the Territorial Councils Act 1956, for the purpose of elections to a Territorial Council constituted under that Act;(b)in the Union territory of Pondicherry, a territorial constituency provided in accordance with the provisions of the State of Pondicherry (Representation of the People) Order, 1955, for the purpose of elections to the Representative Assembly of the State of Pondicherry.(2)Notwithstanding anything in this Act, until the Legislative Assembly of each of the Union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura and Pondicherry has been duly constituted and summoned to meet for the first session under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the following provisions shall apply in relation to the Legislative Assembly of each of those Union territories, namely:-(a)every constituency in existence immediately before the commencement of this Act shall on and from such commencement be deemed to be and assembly constituency of the same name for the purpose of elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory under this section;(b)the seat reserved in any constituency for the scheduled castes in the Union territory of Himachal Pradesh shall be reserved in the assembly constituency of the same name for those castes;(c)every person who immediately before the commencement of this Act is a member elected from a constituency to fill a seat in the Territorial Council of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur or Tripura or in the Representative Assembly of Pondicherry shall, on and from such commencement, represent the assembly constituency of the same name in the Legislative Assembly and shall be deemed to have been elected to the Legislative Assembly from that constituency, and every person who immediately before such commencement is a member nominated to the Territorial Council by the Central Government shall be deemed to have been nominated to the Legislative Assembly;and accordingly on the commencement of this Act, the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory shall, without any further action or step being taken in this behalf, be deemed to be duly constituted:Provided that a person who, immediately before the commencement of this Act, is a member of the Representative Assembly of Pondicherry shall not become a member of the Legislative Assembly thereof unless he is a citizen of India.(3)The period of five years referred to in section 5 shall in the case of a Legislative Assembly functioning under this section be deemed to have commenced -(i)in the case of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Himachal Pradesh, on the 3rd August, 1962;(ii)in the case of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Manipur, on the 3rd August, 1962;(iii)in the case of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Tripura, on the 1st August, 1962; and(iv)in the case of the Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Pondicherry, on the 25th August, 1959.(4)In other respects, the provisions of Part II shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to a Legislative Assembly functioning under this section as they apply in relation to a Legislative Assembly constituted under and in accordance with the provisions of that Part.
