PRELIMINARY

This Act may be called the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act, 1956.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

1. (a) "appointed day" means the 1st day of November, 1956;
2. (b) "article" means an article of the Constitution;
3. (c) "assembly constituency", "council constituency" and "parliamentary constituency" have the same meanings as in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);
4. (d) "Election Commission" means the Election Commission appointed by the President under article 324;
5. (e) "law" includes any enactment, ordinance, regulation, order, bye-law, rule, scheme, notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or in any part of Bihar or West Bengal;
6. (f) "notified order" means an order published in the Official Gazette;
7. (g) "population ratio" means such ratio as the Central Government may, by notified order, specify to be the ratio between the population as ascertained at the last census of the State of Bihar excluding the transferred territories and the population as so ascertained of the transferred territories;
8. (h) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
   • (i) "sitting member", in relation to either House of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State means a person who, immediately before the appointed day, is a member of that House;
9. (j) "transferred territories" means the territories transferred from the State of Bihar to the State of West Bengal by section 3;
10. (k) "treasury" includes a sub-treasury.