00:00Jagdeep Chokar, co-founder of the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and former IIM Ahmedabad
00:11professor has passed away. Here are some of the key electoral reforms he advocated through ADR.
00:18In 2002, ADR's effort led to Supreme Court judgments that made it mandatory for candidates
00:23in Lok Sabha and state assembly elections to declare their pending criminal cases,
00:26financial details and educational background. Professors Jagdeep Chokar and Trilochan Sassari
00:31argued that the right to information about candidates was fundamental to democracy
00:35and fell under Article 19 of the constitution. ADR was one of the petitioners challenging the
00:42constitutionality of the electoral bond scheme introduced through the Finance Act 2017.
00:46The scheme allowed anonymous donations to political parties through bonds that could be purchased
00:50without revealing donor identities. In February 2024, the scheme was declared unconstitutional by
00:56the Supreme Court. In April 2024, another judgment on an ADR petition led to the ECI issuing a revised
01:05standard operating procedure for the checking and verification of electronic voting machines.
01:09Candidates who had come second or third could ask for a recheck of up to 5% of the EVMs used in the voting.
01:18Recently in August, the Supreme Court acting on an ADR plea asked the election commission to explain the
01:23omission of 65 lakh voters from Bihar's draft electoral rolls. After his death at the age of 80 on September 12,
01:29Jagdeep Chokar's body was donated to Lady Heart in Medical College, Delhi. Former Election Commissioner
01:34Ashok Lawasa and former Chief Election Commissioner S.V. Qureshi expressed grief over his passing.
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