Booth Level Agents liable only for verifiable information in SIR: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has ruled that booth level agents (BLA) of political parties are only liable for verifying verifiable information in enumeration forms during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Justice Amit Bansal stated that BLAs can be held accountable for ensuring that the photograph on the enumeration form matches the identity of the elector, according to section 31 of the Representation of People Act.

This decision comes in response to a petition by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav and the chairman of the DPCC's booth management committee, who challenged a mandate requiring BLAs to provide a personal undertaking certifying that they 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 provide any provision for the Election Commission to ask political party representatives to give such an undertaking.

The court dismissed the requirement of a personal undertaking from BLAs, stating that it is contrary to the statutory scheme of verification under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, which mandates that the inclusion of any name in the electoral roll shall be made by the Electoral Registration Officer, after proper verification of facts in a manner prescribed by the Rules.

The court held that imposing a personal verification undertaking on BLAs amounts to an unlawful delegation of a statutory function to private actors.

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