Delhi HC Limits Booth Level Agents' Liability in Electoral Roll Revision
The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that booth level agents of political parties are not liable for verifying all details in enumeration forms during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Justice Amit Bansal held that booth level agents are liable only for verifiable details, such as confirming that the elector's photograph matches their identity.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Bansal clarified the scope of liability under election law. "In the opinion of this court, BLA can only be made liable in terms of section 31 of the Representation of People Act for information that can be verified by the BLA, i.e., the photograph on the enumeration form matches with the identity of the elector," the judge stated.
Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act stipulates that making false declarations in connection with the preparation, revision, or correction of an electoral roll is a punishable offence. The provision carries a penalty of imprisonment for a term extending up to one year, a fine, or both.
The ruling came on a petition moved jointly by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav and the chairman of the DPCC's booth management committee. The petitioners challenged a mandate that required party booth level agents to submit personal undertakings certifying that they had personally verified all entries and information in the enumeration forms.
The petitioners argued that neither the Representation of the People Act nor the Registration of Electors Rules empowers the Election Commission to require party representatives to furnish such undertakings. They contended that the requirement ran contrary to the established legal framework for voter roll verification.
According to the petition, the requirement directly contradicted the statutory verification scheme outlined under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The statute mandates that the inclusion of any name in the electoral roll must be carried out by the Electoral Registration Officer only after proper verification of facts in the prescribed manner.
The petition noted that the prescribed verification procedure under the rules must be executed by statutory officers rather than private individuals or political party representatives. Imposing personal verification undertakings on party agents, the plea maintained, amounted to an unlawful delegation of a statutory responsibility to private actors.
