A Tremendous Loss To Indian Democracy

In the passing away of Professor Jagdeep S Chhokar, India lost a true citizen in every way—a railway engineer who went on to become a well-respected academic and later the Dean of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), a civilian deeply disturbed by India’s electoral system who co-founded the Association for Democratic Reforms that has had a towering impact on India’s elections, a bird-watcher who took quiet satisfaction in it, and a retiree who went to study law so he could talk to lawyers better—a man who built an admirable second-innings life. Through all this, as tributes pointed out, he remained grounded, indefatigable, and an affable man. To leave such a sterling and solid legacy behind means his 80 years were worthily and collegially spent.

Prof. Chhokar was a man of many interests and passions, but his desire for a cleaner and transparent democracy in India defined his public stature. In 1999, retired from the IIM-A, he and like-minded professors there filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court seeking mandatory disclosure of the financial, educational, and criminal information of candidates contesting elections. The case was eventually decided in 2002 in the Supreme Court, which directed public disclosure of this information. On the face of it, it was a simple move, but it would make voting an informed choice. It’s another matter that the past few years have seen this slide back, but it is de rigueur for all candidates to present this information on record. This is why the educational qualifications of the Prime Minister and the fact that the 2024 Lok Sabha has nearly 250 MPs (46 per cent) with some criminal records are public knowledge.

Over the decades, the ADR adopted a twin approach: research and reform. Its teams painstakingly parsed affidavits of candidates and published regular reports of elected representatives based on criminality and caste, among other parameters—a stupendous service to India’s democracy that kept political parties on their toes and the Election Commission of India (ECI) under watch. Prof. Chhokar became the public face of the ADR. Lately, as India’s democratic norms slid, the ADR was among those who approached the SC over the Electoral Bonds Scheme and secured a landmark judgement; challenged the law on the selection of election commissioners and the amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, which allowed political parties to accept foreign funding; petitioned to bring political parties under the Right to Information Act, and argued against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which led to the SC rapping the ECI.

As these ongoing battles, and new ones, are fought, Prof. Chhokar will be sorely missed. All Indians who believe in free and fair elections are poorer in his passing.