The article was originally published in The Hindu.
Year: 2022
Needed: Citizens’ movement for electoral democracy
With several state elections due soon and the Lok Sabha election due in 2024, many citizen groups are perturbed about the massive money power and the criminal muscle power destroying the very integrity of India’s elections and are trying to build a citizens’ movement to overcome them. A gathering under the banner of the “Karnataka […]
Interview: Why the Election Commission’s appointment is being questioned by the Supreme Court
This article is an interview of Prof Chhokar, Founder Member and Trustee of ADR, with Scroll.in. On Thursday, the Supreme Court reserved its judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the appointment process of election commissioners, the officers who comprise the Election Commission – the body responsible for conducting national and state elections. Scroll.in spoke […]
Regulating freebies: Poll panel’s baffling turnabout
This article is an interview of Prof Chhokar, Founder Member and Trustee of ADR, with Civil Society Online. Promises fly thick and fast during election time. Political parties seek to outdo one another in getting the attention of voters. In the heat of the moment, mostly anything goes and voters are none the wiser […]
Not freebies, criminals in politics should be EC’s focus
If a candidate makes an outlandish election promise, it is for the voter to decide whether to buy it or not. While the central poll panel labours over what is essentially a policy matter, an election practice that is actually problematic is not getting its attention In 1999, the Association for Democratic Reforms filed a […]
Three Desperate Measures to Cull the ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ Phenomenon
The problem of defection is not of the legislators alone. Political parties are essential actors in this drama of defection that now plays out repeatedly and brazenly in the political theatre of this country. Haryana has long been decried, and rightly so, for having given the notorious ‘Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram’ phenomenon to Indian politics. However, the Haryana […]
Opinion: Ensuring basic rights is not freebie culture
Promises of welfare spending should not be equated to a reckless freebie culture or a race to the bottom. It must be understood that welfare spending is essential to partly redress the widening inequality in Indian society India has been managing the world’s largest and longest running free food programme since April 2020. This is […]
Assembly Election 2022: चुनाव में मतदाता करे अपने प्रतिनिधि का चयन
मतदाता चुनाव के मुख्य अंग हैं। हमारी चुनाव प्रणाली में मतदाताओं से पूछकर उम्मीदवार उतारने की कोई प्रक्रिया ही नहीं है। राजनीतिक पार्टियां किसी को भी कहीं से खड़ा कर देती हैं। इसीलिए पार्टी बदलते समय नेताओं को जनता के प्रति कोई जवाबदेही नहीं अनुभव होती है। चुनाव का एलान होते ही नेताओं का दलबदल […]
We, the warriors of democracy…
In his now famous speech to budding police officers in Hyderabad on how civil society groups can be subverted, the National Security Adviser, Ajit Kumar Doval, widely regarded as the third most important official in the security establishment, significantly said: “The quintessence of democracy does not lie in the ballot box … it lies in the […]
Should electoral ID data be linked to Aadhaar?
Correcting electoral rolls in a society like India’s has to be done the hard way — going door to door. Quick fixes and tech solutions like Aadhaar can do more harm than good The issue of linking India’s voters’ list with the Aadhaar database is in news again with the surreptitious passage of The […]