Booth Level Agents Cannot Be Made to Certify What Only the Booth Level Officer Can Verify: Delhi HC Limits BLA Liability Under SIR Guidelines

Devender Yadav & Anr. v. Election Commission of India & Anr. | High Court of Delhi (Single Judge) | Decided on: 03.09.2026

In a challenge to the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) guidelines, the Delhi High Court held that Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties cannot be required to give a personal undertaking certifying the correctness of all particulars in electors' Enumeration Forms, since verification of such particulars is statutorily entrusted to the Booth Level Officer (BLO). The Court confined BLA liability under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 to matters actually within their power to verify, such as matching the elector's photograph with their identity, while upholding BLAs' full responsibility for information in forms they personally compile (dead voter/shifted elector lists).

Background

1. The ECI issued SIR guidelines on 24.06.2025 and decided on 14.05.2026 to conduct SIR in various States/UTs including NCT of Delhi; Petitioner No. 2 (Chairman, Booth Management Committee, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee) raised concerns about the undertaking required from Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and sought copies of the 2002 and Frozen electoral rolls.
2. The petitioners had earlier approached this Court [W.P.(C) 8192/2026], which granted liberty to seek clarification from the Supreme Court; the Supreme Court petition [W.P.(C) 911/2026] was withdrawn with liberty to return to the High Court, leading to the present petition.
3. Clause 9(d)(iv) of the SIR Guidelines required a BLA to submit forms with an undertaking that he had "personally verified the particulars" and was satisfied they were correct, exposing the BLA to liability under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 for false information.
4. The petitioners contended this conflicted with modified Guidelines of 14.05.2026 and Clauses 3(g)/4(b) of Guidelines dated 27.05.2026, which placed responsibility for verification of Enumeration Form particulars on the government-official Booth Level Officer (BLO), not the party-appointed BLA.
5. The ECI, relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India upholding its power to conduct SIR, defended the undertaking as an accountability measure under its Manual of Electoral Rolls, 2023 for bulk applications submitted through BLAs.

Court's Observations

1. The Enumeration Form itself requires a verification undertaking from the BLO (a government officer), and Clauses 3(g)/4(b) of the Guidelines dated 27.05.2026 re-emphasise that it is the BLO who verifies documents and details from the electoral roll during house-to-house enumeration.
2. The information contained in an elector's Enumeration Form is within the elector's exclusive knowledge; a BLA, whose role is limited to assisting in filling and submitting the form, has no means to authenticate all such particulars and cannot fairly be made liable for their correctness.
3. The ECI's own counter affidavit conceded that a BLA does not participate in the statutory verification process for inclusion/exclusion in electoral rolls, that function being exclusively the BLO's, reinforcing that the impugned undertaking exceeded what a BLA could reasonably certify.
4. By contrast, for forms that a BLA personally compiles from their own field verification — such as the lists of dead voters (Annexure 58) and shifted electors (Annexure 59) under the Manual — full BLA responsibility and liability under Section 31 RP Act was upheld as appropriate and unchallenged by the petitioners.
5. The Court accordingly confined a BLA's undertaking-related liability for Enumeration Forms to matters actually verifiable by the BLA, namely, that the photograph on the form matches the identity of the elector submitting it, rather than the entirety of the particulars therein.
6. On the second prayer, since the ECI confirmed the 2002 and 2025 electoral rolls (including photographs) were available online and physical copies would be supplied on written request and payment of fees, that prayer stood satisfied without further directions.

Legal Provisions Discussed

1. Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 read with Article 324 of the Constitution of India — ECI's power to conduct Special Intensive Revision.
2. Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 — liability for false statements/information by third persons.
3. Registration of Electors Rules, 1960; Manual of Electoral Rolls, 2023 (ECI).
4. Precedent applied: Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India, 2026 INSC 564.

Case Details :

Court Name: High Court of Delhi at New Delhi

Case Number: W.P.(C) 11278/2026 & CM APPL. 52187/2026

Case / Party Name: Devender Yadav & Anr. v. Election Commission of India & Anr.

Court: High Court of Delhi (Single Judge)

Coram / Judges: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Amit Bansal

Date of Decision: 03.09.2026