With ADR, Chhokar has been working relentlessly to ensure transparency in the Indian elections and the Election Commission of India.
Synopsis: Jagdeep S Chhokar, one of the founders and trustees of the Association of Democratic Reforms, passed away following a heart attack. With ADR, Chhokar has been working relentlessly to ensure transparency in the Indian elections and the Election Commission of India.
Jagdeep S Chhokar, one of the founders and trustees of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), passed away on the morning of Friday, 12 September, at the age of 81. Reports say he suffered a heart attack early in the morning.
“Truly selfless champion of democracy and public causes. Humble and self effacing to the core, he and the ADR were behind some of the major electoral reforms in the last two decades, including disclosure of property and criminal antecedents of candidates. ADR is the principal petitioner against the SIR,” said political activist Yogendra Yadav, who announced Chhokar’s demise.
According to Yadav, Chhokar’s body will be donated as per his will.
Advocated for transparency in elections
With ADR, Chhokar had been working relentlessly to ensure transparency in the Indian elections and the Election Commission of India. He was also a petitioner in the recent Supreme Court hearing against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Chhokar was a professor, Dean, and Director-in-Charge at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, from 1985 till November 2006. Before that, he worked as a mechanical engineer with the Indian Railways.
He had been working on electoral and political reforms for over 20 years, and is also the founding Chairperson of Aajeevika Bureau, a civil society organisation that works on issues about internal migration in India.
In 1999, with a few of his IIMA colleagues, he founded ADR, which has been playing a critical role in enhancing transparency in Indian elections, winning several notable cases at the Supreme Court level.
He had completed LLB from Gujarat University in 2005, PhD from Louisiana State University in 1983, and MBA from the University of Delhi in 1997. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1967, along with Production Engineering. He also obtained a certificate in ornithology from the Bombay Natural History Society in 2001.