‘Keep me out of politics’: Meet the man who anchored the electoral bonds fight

“Done and dusted.”

With shaky hands, Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd) tapped this WhatsApp text away to a lawyer from his Noida home, minutes after the Election Commission of India tweeted that it had received electoral bond data from the state-run State Bank of India. 

The 77-year-old transparency campaigner had been jittery amid speculation that the SBI may drag its feet on sharing the details on Tuesday. But his phone soon buzzed with messages informing him of the ECI’s tweet – from Association of Democratic Reforms, a non-partisan think tank and a petitioner in the electoral bond case, and lawyers.

“Now, it’s official,” Batra broke into a nervous smile. He had his reasons, after a years-long battle fought through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The original petition, which has come to be known as the ADR v/s Union of India case, after all, cites a few documents Batra had acquired in the last six years. 

Delivering its verdict in the case on February 15, the Supreme Court had termed the electoral bonds – a way of political funding through anonymous donors since 2018 – unconstitutional and asked the SBI to reveal datasets of bond buyers and parties that encashed it by March 6. However, the SBI sprang a “silo” surprise. Unimpressed, the apex court persisted and put the largest bank in India on notice. The bank then transferred the datasets to ECI on Monday.

‘Talk a lot but can’t write’

Beyond the court, newsrooms have looked up to the sprightly Batra for information on electoral bonds. His Noida house is the first port of call for journalists on electoral bonds.

“I talk a lot but I can’t write,” he told Newslaundry. 

What is it that he wants to talk about? Transparency in governance, reforms, bureaucratic negligence or anything else that concerns the people. But any discussion on a broken water purifier and water pump is summarily dismissed or delayed. “The family” – household chores – “comes last for him. But whatever he is doing is for the nation,” said his wife Jyotsana, a social worker.

Her words – “take risks, speak up” – are what uplifts him.

Multan to mission mode

Batra was born in Multan in an undivided India in 1946. During Partition, the family, like a million others, crossed the Indian border. “When we moved to this side, I was an infant. I don’t remember much,” he said, eager to move onto a more exciting phase of his life as a Navyman.

He joined the Navy in 1967 before graduating from Meerut University, participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, rescued people struck by natural calamities during a super cyclone in Odisha (1999) and an earthquake in Gujarat (and built their homes); went beyond his official duty to empower women and the differently-abled; and undertook literacy initiatives.

A hydrographer in the Navy, he was transferred to Delhi in 1992, and worked in South Block in Delhi. During this time, he maintained an unofficial file called “HRD” which contained ideas how the Navy can lend its helping hand to the poor and disadvantaged. Some of these ideas – a low-floor bus for the differently-abled and roping in wives of armed forces during natural calamities – became a reality.

In 1998, his ideas culminated into a book, “Outreach”, brought out by the Navy in association with 14 ministries and NGOs, including Unicef and Unesco. It was unveiled by President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari. Batra had earlier approached Sonia Gandhi for publication of the book through the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. She agreed. But Batra later pulled out after she joined politics. “I was a serving officer and could not be involved with a party for the book,” he said.

On the day he retired in 2002, the family waited for a reception. Unmindful, he continued to work from South Block till 8pm. “My daughter picked me up and we went to a photo studio for a photo. This was the last time I was in uniform,” he reminisced.

The press information bureau, in a release, lauded for introducing vision to various issues related to widows, and disabled and needy servicemen. It went on to appreciate his relief efforts in rebuilding the Moda village in Gujarat's Jamnagar district. It’s rare for PIB to issue a press release commending a commodore rank officer for his services.   

After retirement, he stayed true to his commitment to work ethics and community service. He would write letters to editors and send photos to them about issues that needed to be highlighted. “I would take pictures from my Nikon camera,” he said.

Inside and outside government, he has remained the same: altruistic. 

‘Disagree that RTI is a weapon’

“In this age, timing and exclusivity is important. I want everyone to have this information. What’s the point of filing RTIs when you are not sharing them?” said Batra, who prefers the tag of “transparency campaigner” over “RTI activist”.

“My aim is to bring reforms. Some people say RTI is a weapon. I completely disagree with it. A weapon is used against adversaries or enemies, not against our people. Officials who reply to RTIs are also human beings. There are good people. I use RTI to bring reforms and change. If I file an RTI on an issue, it may wake up officials to it,” he said.

One of the first RTIs he filed was on poor water quality in Noida. Another one he remembers clearly was related to the implementation of section 4 of the RTI Act by the Delhi government led by Sheila Dikshit.

“Section 4 is the soul of the Act. Under the section, the government is required to share its data with the public. So I filed an RTI asking the chief ministers’ office about the implementation of Section 4. The application was shared with all departments of the Delhi government. It was an attempt to remind the government that data should be readily available to the public.” 

Section 4 says that all government departments should provide information to the public suo motu.

Batra also used to attend RTI awareness camps held by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, when they were RTI activists.

In 2006, when the nation was rocked by the Nithari serial murders, Batra, who was an active member of a Noida welfare collective, filed RTIs. Queries were related to cleaning of drains (human skeletons were found there) by the municipal corporation, and communication between the National Commission for Women and Uttar Pradesh police. Through his RTIs, he showed how police and the commission were negligent towards the disappearance of children and the murders. The details took longer than months. “It was a long battle of six years,” he said.

Subsequent RTI applications brought many changes to governance: a new system under which overseas Indians could pay and file RTI, an online portal, getting 34 mistakes corrected in the Hindi version of the Act etc.

All these successes involved persistence and an eye for detail. 

Batra revealed how he would write RTI applications. “For each RTI application, I would first give the background of the issue and share documents I have received from previous RTI applications. Only then, I would move to information I need. I would normally seek the whole government file. This may lead to new information,” Batra said.

‘Keep me out of politics’                                                                                         

On February 15, when the SC called electoral bonds unconstitutional, Batra was watching the proceedings from the US well past midnight. “After the hearing, he ran upstairs and informed me… All of us were skeptical that the SC would do this. But he was always optimistic,” said his wife, Jyotsana.

Batra returned to India on March 10. Excited about the Supreme Court hearing the next day, he saw history unfold in the courtroom – evident in his use of phrases such as “I was there when Justice Chandrachud said” or “I was there when judges took out a few pages (supplied by ECI from the sealed cover containing electoral bond details till 2019)”.

Jet-lagged and sleep deprived, Batra has now been nursing a sore throat because of relentless media interviews. “I may not be able to talk much because of a sore throat. I need to have hot water,” he told Newslaundry at his Noida home, forgetting about the hot water fix for four hours. 

The entry to his study room, with cabinets overflowing with files, has disability-friendly ramps. He is on the hunt to donate old files to libraries or think tanks. The room features photos of his grandchildren, maxims, best wishes and quotes. On a glass cabinet, Jesus Christ, Mother Teresa and a gayatri mantra sticker make space for each other.

“These words – be the change you want to see in the world – inspire him the most,” Jyotsana told me, pointing to a desk plaque. “My aim is to bring reforms and ask questions from the government of the present day. I am not concerned which party is in power,” he said.

Batra steers cleared of party-specific questions. Even in casual conversations, he would avoid party names.  “During the 2019 elections after the model code of conduct was in force, there was a huge billboard of a party on Pedder Road in Mumbai,” he recalled.

“BJP’s?” I asked.

“I don’t want to get involved into the BJP-Congress debate.” He paused. “There was Modi-ji’s picture, announcing ghar me ghus ke mara (we beat them up in their house).”

In a scrap book prepared by his grandchildren, one of the pages reads: “We love our grandfather as much as Indians love (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.” “What? Did they write this?” Batra asked Jyotsana. “Again politics. Keep me out of it,” he declared.

A long battle, far from over

Batra’s “done and dusted” WhatsApp message to ADR and lawyers is just the end of another years-long battle.

On electoral bonds, what had caught his attention was finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget speech in February 2017 introducing an anonymous way of political funding. But Batra saw it as scope for donations by questionable sources.

Later, MoS (finance) P Radhakrishnan lied in Parliament that ECI had not raised concerns on the electoral bond scheme.

However, through his RTIs, Batra learnt that the Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission were not in favour of the electoral bond scheme which led to amendments in the Reserve Bank of India Act, Representation of People’s Act and Income Tax Act. And over the years, he amassed a huge dataset on the scheme, leading to investigating stories (here, here).

ADR and lawyers work closely with Batra.

“We work as a team. Whenever I receive any new detail on electoral bonds, I first share it with them as they are fighting the case in the Supreme Court. They also reciprocate by sharing affidavits and other relevant material with me,” he said.

“Now we have to see the electoral bond data when ECI publishes it on their website on March 15. We have to see if we can match the donor and donee from the datasets. Then, I have to focus on the PM Cares Fund,” he said.

There is another challenge that he is wrestling with: how to create a Twitter thread. “The last tweet in the threads goes up. I need to learn this... I have been active on Twitter for the past two years. The aim is to share the information with the public. Anyone can use it… I don’t share exclusives with journalists. I pass on the information to everyone.”

Update at 11:50 am on February 15, 2024: Commodore Lokesh Batra’s year of birth was corrected.