Delhi HC asks ECI to respond to Congress petition on electoral rolls
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s stand on a petition by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The petition by Yadav, and the chairman, booth management committee of DPCC, assailed the mandate to booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties to give a personal undertaking certifying that they have personally verified all details in the enumeration forms.
Justice Amit Bansal asked the Election Commission to file its response to the plea and listed it for hearing on August 12.
As per the petitioner, neither the Representation of the People Act nor the Registration of Electors Rules contain any provision empowering the Election Commission to ask the representatives of political parties to give such an undertaking.
“The requirement of a personal undertaking from BLAs is directly contrary to the statutory scheme of verification prescribed under Section 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mandates that the inclusion of any name in the electoral roll shall be made by the Electoral Registration Officer, and only after ‘proper verification of facts in such manner as may be prescribed’,” the petition said.
“The prescribed manner of verification under the Rules is to be conducted by statutory officers, not by private individuals or party representatives. The imposition of an undertaking of personal verification upon BLAs amounts to an unlawful delegation of a statutory function to private actors,” it added. The petitioners were represented by senior advocate Sakal Bhushan and advocates Sunil Kumar and Prateek Sinha.
The petition sought a direction to set aside the relevant SIR guidelines that require the personal undertaking of booth-level agents for verification of the particulars contained in enumeration forms.
It also sought a direction to the EC to provide printed and soft copies of the 2022 electoral rolls of 2002 and the ‘Frozen Photo Electoral Roll’ for Delhi to enable the petitioners’ BLAs to effectively assist in the SIR.
