Jagdeep Chhokar’s death marks a setback for India’s fight for clean politics

Educator, activist, and founding member of the Association for Democratic Reforms, Jagdeep S Chhokar, died on Thursday morning after a heart attack. He was 72. 

A relentless advocate for transparency and accountability in Indian politics, Chhokar spent over two decades pushing reforms that reshaped the country’s electoral landscape. He emerged as a key legal strategist behind several landmark Supreme Court judgments that mandated political parties to disclose candidates’ criminal, financial, and educational backgrounds – measures that transformed electoral accountability. 

His death has now sent shock waves across India’s civil society and academic circles. Among those who expressed condolences were RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, lawyer Sanjay Hegde, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa, and journalist Maneesh Chhibber, among others.

Jha said Chhokar had “forced the nation to look into the mirror of its electoral practices and confront the cracks beneath the surface of its democratic edifice”. Hedge wrote, “Rest in Power sir, you fought well to preserve India's democratic institutions and kept them on the right track.” Calling Chhokar’s passing tragic, Lavasa said the ADR has “rendered yeoman service in maintaining high standards of electoral democracy. People like him & ADR are vital for questioning authorities, a healthy sign for any democracy”. Chhibber said the nation “will be poorer without you”.

Chhokar’s efforts were pivotal in spotlighting the murky world of political funding, especially the controversial electoral bond scheme, which he publicly criticised for enabling anonymous donations that threaten democratic transparency.

He had co-founded ADR in 1999, a pioneering organisation dedicated to electoral and political transparency in India. In 2002-2003, Chhokar played a key role in landmark Supreme Court judgments mandating all candidates contesting elections to disclose their criminal, financial, and educational backgrounds through affidavits submitted to the Election Commission. He led ADR’s efforts in legal battles against non-transparent political funding, culminating in the 2024 Supreme Court judgment striking down the opaque electoral bond scheme.

In an article for Newslaundry detailing the demerits of the electoral bonds scheme, Chhokar wrote, “The risk of allowing companies to contribute funds to political parties have been pointed out since as far back as 1975 when Justice M.C. Chagla, then Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, wrote, in a case where a proposal by the Tata Iron and Steel Company to make contributions to political parties was under being adjudicated, ‘…It is a danger which may grow apace and which may ultimately overwhelm and even throttle democracy in the country’.”

In another piece, he asked why political parties should not be covered under the RTI Act when the Chief Justice of India was under its ambit.

He advocated for the introduction of the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option on electronic voting machines, which the Supreme Court approved in 2013, empowering voters to reject all candidates if desired.

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