ADR Speaks

On 13th February 2020, the Supreme Court had directed political parties to list out reasons on their website including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with criminal background and why other individuals without criminal antecedents were not selected, within 72 hours of the selection of candidates with tainted background. This is especially of concern in light of the total number of pending cases against the candidates in question, and their categorisation under ‘serious criminal cases’. This the part 1 of the episode discussing the above issue and ADR's analysis & reccomendations. Please give your feedback at [email protected].

This podcast is the continuation of the podcast on "Episode 21: Publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection - Part 1". It has been extracted from the webinar organized by ADR on "Publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection" on 10th June 2021.

This episode focuses on youth representation in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, importance of youth participation in the Indian elections, measures undertaken by ECI to increase the participation of youth in the voting process, and ADR’s efforts to create awareness amongst young Indians about the current political atmosphere and informed voting.Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected].

This episode of ADR's podcast series discusses analysis of Bihar 2015 Election Candidates, and Chances of Winning of Crorepati Candidates and Candidates with Criminal Background. The topic becomes more relevant in light of the upcoming Bihar elections, which is scheduled to be held in October 2020, to elect 243 members.

Note: Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected].

Parties need access to money to reach out to the electorate, explain their goals/policies and receive inputs from people. But where do they collect their funds from?

In this brand new episode, which is the fourth in the podcast series launched by ADR in June 2020, we look at the analysis of the Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and donations statements filed by the 7 National political parties for FY 2018-19 with the Election Commission of India (ECI), to ascertain the sources of the funds received by the National parties. We look at the declared incomes of the National parties and their top sources. Subsequently, we analyse and discuss the sources of these incomes as Known sources, Unknown sources and Other Known sources, which are categories defined by ADR. Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected].

This episode will focus on “Why Political parties should be brought under the ambit of RTI Act.” In this section, we will be discussing why it is crucial to declare political parties as public authorities, related legal and constitutional provisions and how bringing parties under the RTI Act can cure many problems prevalent in our electoral and political process.

Note: Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected].

The second episode of ADR's podcast series discusses money and muscle power in Indian elections. It provides key findings of ADR's analysis of election results spanning across several years, which helps in a better understanding of the rising prominence of crorepati winners, and election of MPs and MLAs with declared criminal cases.

Note: Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected]. To listen to the Hindi version of this episode click here

This episode discusses the key findings of ADR’s report on the Analysis of Funds Collected and Expenditure Incurred by Political Parties during the Lok Sabha Elections, 2019. It looks at some of the major heads under which the National and Regional parties incurred the highest expenses during Lok Sabha elections 2019 (and the Assembly elections to four states – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha & Sikkim) and analyses the funds received by parties, during the election period of 75 days. The full report can be accessed here.

Please send us your feedback, comments, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected].

On 13th February, 2020 the Supreme Court had directed political parties to list out reasons on their website including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with criminal background within 72 hours of the selection of such candidates. ADR’s analysis of the publication of criminal antecedents by political parties revealed major shortcomings in the implementation of the SC judgement. With this in view, ADR organised a webinar on "Publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection" on 10th June 2021. This podcast has been extracted from this webinar.

This podcast is the continuation of the podcast on "Episode 20: Electoral Bonds A case of collective institutional complicity - Part 1". It has been extracted from the webinar organized by ADR on "Electoral Bonds: A case of collective institutional complicity?" on 24th February 2021.

Following are the points which have been discussed in this episode:

To watch the webinar, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxzoeJCqZMI.