Delhi HC: Party Booth Agents Liable Only for Verifiable Electoral Data

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties cannot be held responsible for verifying every detail in enumeration forms submitted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Justice Amit Bansal clarified that a BLA's liability under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act extends only to information that can be practically verified at the booth level, such as matching the photograph on the form with the elector's identity.

Section 31 prescribes punishment of up to one year in prison, a fine, or both, for making false declarations related to the preparation, revision, or correction of electoral rolls.

The ruling came on a petition filed by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav and the chairman of the DPCC's booth management committee. They challenged the Election Commission's directive requiring BLAs to submit a personal undertaking certifying they had personally verified all details 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 demand such an undertaking from party representatives.

They contended that the requirement contradicts the statutory verification scheme under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which assigns the duty of including names in electoral rolls to the Electoral Registration Officer, following prescribed verification procedures.

The petition asserted that the prescribed verification process is meant to be conducted by statutory officers, not private individuals or party representatives, and that imposing personal verification duties on BLAs constitutes an unlawful delegation of statutory functions to private actors.