New Delhi [India], September 3 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday clarified that the booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls can be held accountable only for information that is capable of being personally verified by them.
Justice Amit Bansal, while pronouncing the verdict, observed that a BLA’s responsibility cannot extend to certifying every detail contained in an elector’s enumeration form.
According to the court’s oral observations, BLAs can be made liable only for verifiable particulars, such as whether the photograph appearing in an enumeration form corresponds with the identity of the elector concerned.
“In the opinion of this Court, a BLA can only be made liable in terms of Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act for information that can be verified by the BLA, which is, the photograph in the enumeration form matches the identity of the elector,” the court said.
The directions came on a petition challenging guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the SIR exercise in Delhi. The guidelines had required BLAs representing political parties to furnish a personal undertaking certifying that they had personally verified all particulars contained in the enumeration forms.
The petition was filed by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav and another individual, who questioned the Election Commission’s authority to impose such an obligation on representatives of political parties.
The petitioners argued that neither the Representation of the People Act nor the Registration of Electors Rules contain any provision authorising the Election Commission to require BLAs to give a personal undertaking regarding the verification of all information submitted by electors.
According to their case, the statutory responsibility for verifying facts connected with inclusion of names in electoral rolls rests with the Electoral Registration Officer.
The plea referred to Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which provides that inclusion of a name in an electoral roll is to be undertaken by the Electoral Registration Officer after proper verification of facts in the prescribed manner.
The petitioners contended that the rules envisage verification by statutory authorities and officials, and that such functions could not effectively be transferred to private individuals or representatives nominated by political parties.
They had argued that requiring BLAs to certify personal verification of every detail in an enumeration form would amount to placing a statutory burden on persons who do not exercise statutory powers.
The petition also sought the setting aside of the impugned SIR guidelines. In addition, the petitioners had sought directions to the Election Commission to provide printed and digital copies of Delhi’s 2002 electoral rolls, including the Frozen Photo Electoral Roll, before implementation of the SIR exercise.
According to the petition, access to these earlier electoral records was necessary to enable BLAs to meaningfully assist electors and participate in the revision process.