Jagdeep Chhokar combined the empiricism of a researcher with the passion of a reformer, often presenting data that embarrassed political parties but empowered the citizenry.

I first met Professor Jagdeep S Chhokar in 2006, when I was the youngest in the Election Commission of India. At that time, the relationship between the Election Commission (EC) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)—the organisation he co-founded—was marked by caution, even suspicion.

ADR had begun to make waves with its landmark petitions in the courts, demanding greater transparency in elections. From within the EC, we were instinctively wary: here was an organisation holding up a mirror to the system we were constitutionally sworn to safeguard.

But the more we engaged with Jagdeep, the more we realised that we were fighting the same battle—to make India’s democracy not just participatory, but truly informed. It was the beginning of a professional partnership and a personal friendship that endured through the years.

A Shared Haryana Connection

The fact that Jagdeep belonged to Haryana—which was my own cadre—brought us personally closer. He was born in Patti Kalyana, a well-known village in Panipat, which was earlier part of Karnal district, where I underwent my IAS training.

That coincidence alone would have been enough to give us a sense of kinship, but our connections went even deeper. As a student, I used to attend German classes at Max Mueller Bhavan, where his sister, Bimla Chhokar—who later became Bimla Bhalla—was also a fellow student. These ties made it feel natural for us to look upon each other almost as family.

Our conversations often ranged from electoral law to personal anecdotes, and just a few months ago he told me—with characteristic candor— that for the last 15 years he has been quoting me on a subject close to both our hearts: electoral rolls. I had once said that “electoral rolls are the soft underbelly of the Election Commission”.

Jagdeep said he had repeated that line hundreds of times in his writings and speeches. Now, with the controversy around the Special Intensive Revision of rolls in Bihar at its peak, that observation seems more relevant than ever.

From IIM to ADR: A Scholar Who Chose The Battlefield

Professor Chhokar was not a career activist. A distinguished academic and former dean of IIM-Ahmedabad, he could have chosen a quiet, comfortable life in the cloisters of academia. Instead, he brought the same intellectual rigour that defined his scholarship to the contested arena of electoral reform.

ADR’s origin story is now the stuff of democratic legend: a group of IIM-A professors—including Chhokar—filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court in 1999 seeking mandatory disclosure of criminal, financial, and educational background of candidates contesting elections. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, and in 2002, the landmark judgment mandated that such disclosures be made public. This was a watershed moment in Indian democracy.

It was Jagdeep who became the public face of this movement, taking ADR’s mission beyond courtrooms to civil society, media platforms, and public debates. He combined the empiricism of a researcher with the passion of a reformer, often presenting data that embarrassed political parties but empowered the citizenry.

ADR As The ‘Eyes and Ears’ Of Reform

In the years that followed, ADR became indispensable to the cause of electoral reform. Its painstaking work of compiling and analysing candidate affidavits, publishing reports on criminalisation of politics, and tracking campaign finance violations provided an evidence base that no one could ignore —not even the political class.

ADR’s data is now the gold standard for anyone studying the state of Indian democracy.

For the EC, ADR became an ally we did not know we needed. Its data helped us sharpen our own interventions—from tightening rules on candidate disclosures to nudging political parties toward internal democracy. I would often share panels with Jagdeep at public fora; we spoke the same language of reform, he perhaps a bit more sharply, I a bit more diplomatically. But we were on the same side of history.

The Legacy He Leaves Behind

Today, when we speak of “informed choice” as a cornerstone of free and fair elections, we must remember: millions of citizens now check candidate affidavits, criminal records, and asset declarations before casting their vote. This shift— from blind allegiance to evidence-based voting—is part of Jagdeep’s legacy.