This article has been written for Techkriti Blog for a Cause Contest. The topic was: Pick up a Non-Governmental-Organisation working for a particular social cause. Write about its objectives, its progress so far and what are its plans for the future. For more information visit: http://www.socialscribblers.in/techkriti-blog-cause/

1. ADR - Giving Strength To Our Democracy Since 1999
So the grand festival of Democracy is just few months away.
Parties gearing up their cadre, oiling their organizational machinery to
ensure their victory in this festival. While all these things are
happening, the question arises, Who is there to keep a watch over any
wrong doing by the politicians and their party? Yes! I know there is
Election Commission Of India (ECI) , but there is someone else too who is
the watch dog, doing his work silently but sincerely, keeping an eye on
the election process and the political parties.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO founded in
1999 by a group of professors at IIM Ahmadabad. The primary objectives
of ADR are election watch, political parties watch and empowering the
electorate. Since these are very vast areas, ADR has chosen to put their
efforts in
(a) Reducing Corruption and criminalization of Political Parties.
(b) Empowering the electorate about the candidate and parties, to
help them make an informed choices during elections.
(c) To bring greater accountability of Political Parties.

2. (d) To bring inner party democracy and transparency in Political
Parties.
They carry out work by appealing to Election Commission of
India (ECI) , Central Information Commission (CIC), and if necessary The
Supreme Court (SC) in order to bring in reforms in our political and
electoral system. And they have been successful in many of their efforts.
Let me give a few important changes that were brought by ADR or with
the help of ADR. In May'02 and March'03 Supreme Court made it
mandatory to disclose criminal, financial and educational background of
candidate contesting an election. In September'03, a bill was passed on
electoral
expenses, giving ECI more tools to carry out fair election and controlling
the use of money power in elections. ADR struggled for 2 years and in
June'13 CIC delivered a landmark judgement, bringing 6 national parties
under RTI Act, thus bringing in the transparency in political system and
making them accountable to people through RTI. However many political
parties are against it and the matter is in the standing committee of
parliament. ADR with the help of Lady Thomas and other NGO fought a
legal battle in the supreme court in which the supreme court barred
sitting
MPs/MLAs from holding office if convicted by court of law. RJD chief Lalu
Prasad Yadav is one of the politicians who lost their Lokshabha seat due
to
this decision.
In their effort to empower the electorate, ADR is working
very hard encouraging people to vote and informing them about the
criminal,
financial and educational background of the candidates contesting from
their constituency in order to help them make an informed choice. they
have actively engaged celebrities like Amir Khan, journalists and many
known personalities to encourage people to cast their vote .They have
started a website *myneta.info <http://myneta.info>*, where you can get
every available details about elections, candidates and parties. In order to

3. reach masses they came up with SMS service, where one can send a
simple SMS and can avail the details of sitting MP/MLA , and during
election year the details of every candidate contesting.
Their efforts have brought a substantial change in Indian
electoral system. Many of us have seen in the News that many political
parties do not declare their source of income for nearly 70-80% of their
total income. Recently the Nirbhaya case was in the news for long time
and Justice Verma Committee was set up to recommend an action plan
for sexual harassment. the report widely quoted the data of ADR with
politicians charged with crime against women. The work done by ADR is
often in the background. You see it in news channel, news papers which
quote the data analysis done by ADR.
ADR has done a appreciable work, but it is still a long
way ahead to fully achieve their objectives. And they are continuously
working to realize it. The work done by ADR is also recognized. In 2011
ADR won the NASSCOM award for ICT led Innovation by Multistakeholder Partnership for its Election Watch Software with Webrosoft.
In 2012 ADR won the mBillionth Award South Asia for the category of
'Mobile Innovations for Good Governance' featuring its PULL SMS
programme which allows every mobile user in the country to get
information about his/her MP/MLA by typing a
simple SMS on his/her phone.
So next time when you go to vote, use the services of ADR
and make an informed choice.
- Ankit Chouskey