False Statements Relating to Electoral Rolls

Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 punishes specified false written statements or declarations connected with electoral rolls. It covers deliberate or consciously unreliable statements concerning the preparation or modification of a roll, including the inclusion or exclusion of entries.

Statements covered

Liability arises when a person makes a false written statement or declaration in connection with either of the following electoral-roll processes:

• The preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll.
• The inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from an electoral roll.

Essential ingredients

The provision applies to any person, but the statement or declaration must be in writing. It must be false, and the person must know or believe it to be false, or must not believe it to be true.

• An objectively incorrect statement made through a genuine mistake does not by itself satisfy the prescribed mental element.
• Section 31 targets the making of the qualifying false statement; it does not require that the electoral roll must actually have been altered.

Punishment

The offence is punishable with imprisonment up to one year, or with fine, or with both. The provision protects the accuracy of electoral rolls by attaching criminal liability to deliberately or knowingly unreliable written claims and declarations.