Booth level agents liable only for verifiable info in enumeration forms, rules Delhi HC

New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that booth level agents of political parties cannot be held liable for false details in enumeration forms that cannot be verified during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Justice Amit Bansal said booth level agents (BLAs) are liable only for verifiable information like the elector's photograph.

"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 said.

Section 31 states that making false declarations with respect to the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

The judge passed the judgement on a petition by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav and the chairman of the DPCC's booth management committee.

The petitioners challenged the mandate requiring BLAs of political parties to give a personal undertaking certifying they have personally verified all details in the enumeration forms.

It was argued that since the information to be filled in the enumeration form is within the elector's exclusive knowledge and the BLA's role is limited to providing assistance, he

could not be made to personally authenticate all such details.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the court that it permitted all registered political parties to appoint their own BLAs to participate in the process of SIR to dispel any impression of supporters of any specific party being deliberately left out by the booth level officers (BLOs) in a partisan manner.

The requirement of BLAs furnishing undertaking while submitting applications and forms on behalf of the electors was part of ECI's standing instructions and the Manual of Electoral Rolls, 2023, it stated.

In the judgement, the court observed that under the SIR framework, the responsibility for verification and undertaking rested with the BLOs, and therefore, there was no justification for requiring BLAs to furnish personal undertakings certifying the correctness of the particulars in the enumeration form.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.