Association For Democratic Reforms

Obituary: Jagdeep Chhokar led fight against flaws in India's poll system

Over the course of the next twenty years, Chhokar brought his brilliance, scholarship and diligence to the legal and advocacy work that the ADR pursued

Updated On: 12 Sep 2025 | 10:39 PM IST

EC's refusal to accept Aadhaar as voter ID in Bihar is 'absurd': ADR

ADR criticised the Election Commission's refusal to accept Aadhaar as valid voter ID in Bihar's roll revision, calling the move "patently absurd" given Aadhaar's widespread use in official documents

Updated On: 26 Jul 2025 | 9:18 PM IST

45% of 4,092 MLAs in 28 states, 3 UTs face criminal charges: ADR analysis

At least 45 per cent of 4,092 MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR. The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the affidavits of 4,092 out of 4,123 MLAs in 28 state and three Union Territory assemblies. The affidavits of 24 MLAs could not be analysed as those were poorly scanned or not readable. There are seven vacancies in the assemblies. According to the latest ADR report, 1,861 MLAs declared criminal cases against their names. Of these, 29 per cent or 1,205 MLAs face serious criminal charges, including cases related to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women. Andhra Pradesh leads the list with 138 MLAs (79 per cent) declaring criminal cases against their names, followed by Kerala and Telangana with 69 per cent each. Other states with a high percentage of MLAs declaring criminal against their names are Bihar (66 per cent), Maharashtra (65 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (59 per cent). Wi

Updated On: 17 Mar 2025 | 8:44 PM IST

Delhi polls: ADR flags non-compliance of norms by candidates, parties

Out of 118 candidates with criminal record contesting the Delhi Assembly polls, 24 candidates (20 per cent) did not have their records disclosed or justified by their respective parties, poll rights body ADR said on Tuesday. A total of 699 candidates are contesting the upcoming assembly polls in Delhi. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released a detailed analysis of the Delhi Assembly elections 2025. The report, based on Format C7 data, revealed that many political parties failed to disclose reasons for selecting candidates with pending criminal cases as directed by the Supreme Court. Out of 699 candidates contesting the elections, 118 have declared criminal cases against themselves and among them, 71 candidates face serious criminal charges, including corruption, rioting and violent offenses. While 94 candidates' criminal records were published as mandated, 24 candidates (20%) did not have their records disclosed or justified by their respective parties. The Supre

Updated On: 04 Feb 2025 | 6:58 PM IST

18% candidates in Delhi Assembly polls have assets above Rs 5 crore: ADR

Among major parties, the average assets of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate amount to about Rs 22.90 crore. The party has fielded 68 candidates in the polls

Updated On: 27 Jan 2025 | 10:54 PM IST

Himanta vowed to make Assam top 5, now he is one of the richest CMs: Gogoi

While Sarma is among the wealthiest, Assam ranks 31st in the Human Development Index (HDI), which points out a gap between the state's economic progress and the chief minister's wealth

Updated On: 02 Jan 2025 | 5:47 PM IST

N Chandrababu Naidu richest, Mamata Banerjee poorest among 31 CMs: ADR

Andhra Pradesh's N Chandrababu Naidu with total assets worth Rs 931.83 crore, Arunachal Pradesh's Pema Khandu with total assets worth Rs 332.56 crore

Updated On: 30 Dec 2024 | 11:33 PM IST

Money makers: 52% of Haryana Assembly poll candidates are crorepatis

These are part of the findings of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation that works on electoral reforms

Updated On: 30 Sep 2024 | 10:32 PM IST

Lok Sabha elections Phase 3: Which party has more crorepati, criminal candidates

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) recently released an analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of all 1,352 candidates contesting in phase 3 of the Lok Sabha polls.

Updated On: 02 May 2024 | 7:45 PM IST
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29% candidates contesting in phase 3 have assets worth over Rs 1 crore

According to an ADR analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of all 1,352 candidates who are contesting in phase three, 244 (18 per cent) candidates have declared that they face criminal cases

Updated On: 02 May 2024 | 4:21 PM IST

Chasing paper trails

Supreme Court puts VVPAT controversy to rest

Updated On: 28 Apr 2024 | 9:18 PM IST

No to NOTA? Fewer takers for last button, trend suggests further dip

'Voters in reserved constituencies, tribal areas exercise NOTA option to a greater extent than the regular constituencies'

Updated On: 05 Apr 2024 | 11:17 PM IST

TDP MPs clocked highest average attendance in 17th LS, AAP's lowest

The Lower House held 273 sittings, the fewest for a full-term Lok Sabha; 240 bills tabled, 222 saw the light of the day

Updated On: 26 Mar 2024 | 11:48 PM IST

ECI publishes details of electoral bond data on its website: See full list

22,217 electoral bonds were bought from 2019-24, of which 22,030 were redeemed, according to SBI

Updated On: 16 Mar 2024 | 5:57 PM IST

Assets of Chhattisgarh, Telangana MLAs surge; crorepati count rises

Crorepati winning candidates: Out of 119, 114 (96%) are crorepatis, that is with financial assets of Rs 1 crore or more compared to 106 (89%) MLAs five years back

Updated On: 06 Dec 2023 | 11:51 PM IST

86% Cong, 79% BJP candidates crorepatis; 30% from AAP have criminal cases

The average assets per candidate stands at Rs 1.87 crore against Rs 1.68 crore in 2018

Updated On: 15 Nov 2023 | 11:26 PM IST

Indian CMs have assets worth over Rs 30 crore on an average: ADR report

Collective assets across states and union territories have crossed Rs 1,000 crore

Updated On: 13 Apr 2023 | 2:48 PM IST

Funnel of funding transparency: Here're donations made by corporate houses

The ADR said 16 of the 23 electoral trusts submitted details of their contribution for 2020-21 (FY21) to the Election Commission of India

Updated On: 30 Oct 2022 | 10:48 PM IST

Unknown sources contributed Rs 15,077 cr to parties from 2005-21: ADR

The national parties have collected more than Rs 15,077.97 crore from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2020-21, an analysis by the poll rights body -- Association for Democratic Reforms, showed. The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore. ADR considered eight national parties and 27 regional parties for this analysis. The national parties comprised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Community Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and National People's Party (NPEP). The regional parties included AAP, AGP, AIADMK, AIFB, AIMIM, AIUDF, BJD, CPI(ML)(L), DMDK, DMK, GFP, JDS, JDU, JMM, KC-M, MNS, NDPP, NPF, PMK, RLD, SAD, SDF, Shivsena, SKM, TDP, TRS and YSR-Congress. The analysis conducted on the basis of the parties' Income Tax Returns (ITR) and donations statements

Updated On: 26 Aug 2022 | 5:35 PM IST

72% Bihar ministers have declared criminal cases against them: ADR

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) tops the list of the political parties having maximum number of ministers with criminal charges against them.

Updated On: 17 Aug 2022 | 4:18 PM IST