Who Is Commodore Lokesh Batra And How He Fought To Make Electoral Bonds Data Public
When the State Bank of India on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it had submitted data on electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India, it was also a hard-earned victory for Commodore (Retired) Lokesh Batra.?That is because the Navy veteran-turned-RTI activist has been at the forefront of the legal battle to make the data on electoral bonds public.
Who is?Commodore (Retired) Lokesh Batra
The 77-year-old who describes himself as a transparency activist has been using the Right to Information (RTI) Act to seek information on electoral bonds.
Before he became a transparency campaigner, Commodore Batra had served the Indian Navy for more than three decades.
Commodore Batra was born in Multan, which is now a part of Pakistan in 1946.
He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 22, 1967, and retired from service in December 2002.
From Navy to RTI activist?
His post-retirement life changed with the introduction of the RTI Act in 2005.
One of the first RTIs Commodore Batra filed was seeking information about the quality of water supplied to homes in Noida.
Since then he has used the RTI Act to gain information on several matters of public interest.
More than 100 RTIs on Electoral Bonds
After the government introduced the electoral bonds in 2018 which allowed political parties to receive donations anonymously, Commodore Batra filed more than 100 RTIs on the matter that were instrumental in building the case against them in the Supreme Court.?
The SC on February 15 struck down the?electoral bonds?scheme, saying it violates the right to information and freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution.
The SC also asked the SBI to stop issuing electoral bonds and submit the details of the donations to the ECI by March 6.
The SC had further said that the EC should make the data on electoral bonds public by March 13.
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