Jagdeep S. Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and a relentless advocate for electoral transparency, passed away in Delhi on Friday morning after suffering a heart attack.
According to family sources, the 81-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack at 3:30 am while recovering from a fractured shoulder and a lung infection developed during treatment.
Chhokar, who holds a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, USA, served as professor, dean, and director-in-charge at IIM Ahmedabad before devoting the last 25 years of his life to the cause of free and fair elections.
Along with his IIM colleagues, he filed a landmark PIL in 1999 demanding greater transparency in the electoral process, which ultimately led to a Delhi High Court order requiring candidates to disclose their educational qualifications, income, and criminal records.
Chhokar’s activism, born out of academic scrutiny of the 1999 Lok Sabha nominations, helped shape ADR into one of India’s most influential election watchdogs.
ADR has since been instrumental in several major electoral reforms, including the Supreme Court’s 2024 judgment striking down the electoral bonds scheme.
The first election watch was conducted by ADR in 2002 for the Gujarat Assembly Elections, providing a detailed analysis of the backgrounds of candidates contesting the elections to help the electorate make an informed choice during the polls.
Since then, ADR has conducted Election Watches for almost all state and parliament elections in collaboration with the National Election Watch.
Before turning to academia and activism, Chhokar began his career as a mechanical engineer with the Indian Railways and later worked as an international marketing manager in the public sector. He went on to teach in India and abroad, holding positions at universities in Australia, France, Japan, and the United States.
Tributes poured in from across political and civil society circles. Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa described Chhokar’s passing as “tragic,” noting, “He spearheaded the Association of Democratic Reforms, which has rendered yeoman service in maintaining high standards of electoral democracy. People like him and ADR are vital for questioning authorities, a healthy sign for any democracy.”
Political scientist Yogendra Yadav called him a “selfless champion of democracy and public causes.” Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha said his death was “not just the loss of a man but the silencing of a conscience that spoke relentlessly for the integrity of India’s democracy.”
“He believed that democracy is not sustained by the noise of elections, but by their fairness, transparency, and accountability. He reminded us, time and again, that clean politics cannot emerge from tainted processes,” Jha said, adding that “ his departure leaves behind a void.”
Chhokar leaves behind a towering legacy of pushing India toward greater transparency, fairness, and accountability in its democratic practices.