---
title: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)
type: advocacy
status: active
country: IN
website: https://adrindia.org
logo: /assets/org-logos/adr-india.png
contact:
  checked: 2026-07-30
  email: adr@adrindia.org
  form: https://adrindia.org/contact
  source: https://adrindia.org/contact-us
summary: A New Delhi-based non-partisan nonprofit working on electoral and political
  reform in India since 1999 — best known for the Supreme Court litigation that compelled
  mandatory candidate disclosure of criminal, financial, and educational backgrounds.
concepts:
- representative-democracy
- accountability-sink
- radical-transparency
location:
  latitude: 28.5494
  longitude: 77.2001
  name: New Delhi, India
events:
- date: '1999-01-01'
  title: Founded by former Indian Revenue Service officers to improve governance and
    electoral transparency
  url: https://adrindia.org/about-adr/mission-and-vision
  quote: The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was established in 1999 by a
    group of professors from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
activity:
  manual:
    checked: 2026-06-07
    date: 2026-06-05
    note: website is present and loaded. Last report released by them is at 5 June,
      2026
  rss:
    checked: 2026-08-17
    note: No feed found
last_checked: '2026-06-28'
---

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was founded in 1999 by professors from IIM Ahmedabad and the National Institute of Design. It focuses on electoral transparency, political party accountability, and civic engagement, combining litigation, research, and citizen mobilisation.

ADR's landmark contribution was a Public Interest Litigation that led to Supreme Court orders in 2002–2003 requiring candidates for election to disclose their criminal, financial, and educational backgrounds via affidavits — a major structural change to how Indian voters access information about candidates.

## Key programs

- **National Election Watch (NEW)** — a coalition of 1,200+ NGOs monitoring elections across India
- **MyNeta.info** — open-data platform providing searchable candidate disclosure data (criminal records, assets, liabilities, education) for MPs, MLAs, and candidates
- **Political Party Watch** — analysis of financial transparency and income/expenditure of political parties

## Links

- Website: [adrindia.org](https://adrindia.org)
- Candidate data: [myneta.info](https://www.myneta.info)

## See also

- [Representative Democracy](../concepts/representative-democracy.md)
- [Accountability Sink](../concepts/accountability-sink.md)
- [Radical Transparency](../concepts/radical-transparency.md)