Lokpal - An Ombudsman or Political Tool: A Comparative study of India, Sweden and the UK.

Varun Gowda

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i05.58519

Lokpal - An Ombudsman or Political Tool: A Comparative study of India, Sweden and the UK.

Author(s)	Mr. Varun Gowda
Country	India
Abstract	This study examines India's Lokpal's institutional effectiveness, determining if it is a true anti-corruption ombudsman or a tool subject to political constraints. By comparing the Lokpal's operational reality with its legislative mission, a legal and functional study with the more established ombudsman institutions in Sweden and the UK is intended to critically evaluate the difference between the two. The material that is now available shows that India's five-decade battle to create the Lokpal has consistently lacked political will, which stands in stark contrast to the Swedish Ombudsman's organic constitutional development and the UK counterpart's practical legislative origins. In order to analyse primary sources like legislation, constitutional texts, and court rulings, as well as secondary sources like legislative reports, scholarly journals, and performance statistics, this study uses a qualitative, comparative technique. The findings show that the structural independence of the Indian Lokpal is undermined by its institutional design, namely its selection procedure and reliance on government-run investigative organizations. In practice, the Lokpal has remained mainly inactive, even though it seems to have significant prosecution powers. This operational immobility points to a purposeful political strategy of institutional incapacitation. The Swedish and UK models, on the other hand, which rely on "soft power," are more successful since they are really independent and neglecting their conclusions would have a significant political cost. According to the paper's findings, India's Lokpal is a fundamentally defective and ineffective agency that functions more as a political instrument for symbolic governance than as a strong, independent ombudsman.
Keywords	Lokpal, Ombudsman, Political Tool, Anti-corruption, Institutional Autonomy, Sweden Comparison, United Kingdom Ombudsman
Field	Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 5, September-October 2025
Published On	2025-10-27
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i05.58519

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Lokpal - An Ombudsman or Political Tool: A Comparative study of India, Sweden and the UK.

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