At a time when politics has become a game of money and muscle power, every election sees candidates taking to online crowdfunding for their poll campaign.
After raising funds for candidates from the Aam Aadmi Party, Communist Party of India, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Our Democracy, a campaign community that advocates transparency in poll funding, has taken up the task of crowdfunding the bypoll campaign of Tanveer Ahmed Ullah, JD(S) candidate from Shivajinagar. Incidentally, he is also the national spokesperson of the JD(S).
This is the first crowdfunding taken up by the organisation for a poll campaign in Karnataka. The organisation has taken up 40 projects (candidates) and raised ₹1.4 crore through the online community of 25,000 contributors in previous elections across the country.
Mr. Ahmed, who is contesting against the BJP’s M. Sharavana and Congress’ Rizwan Arshad, has been able to raise ₹27,001 since Monday when the fund-raising campaign was launched. The goal is to collect ₹28 lakh, the maximum amount that a candidate is allowed to spend according to the Election Commission.
“I run an event management and an advertisement company. I am also a shareholder in a multi-national company. I have some savings and my party will help me to some extent. With the online crowdfunding exercise, I hope to run my poll campaign successfully,” Mr. Ahmed told The Hindu .
Stating that the response has been good so far, he said: “Some people are offering to donate in cash as they are not familiar with the online system. I was overwhelmed when an autorickshaw driver from Shivajinagar donated ₹100 on Monday. All such donations will be put up online,” he said.
Bilal Zaidi, co-founder of Our Democracy, said crowdfunding is an alternative to cash-intensive political funding in India. “Not only does it let you raise white money through bank-to-bank transaction, each contribution is a form of endorsement,” he said.
The concept of fundraising for poll campaigns in Karnataka started during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by the AAP, which had fielded candidates in all 28 constituencies. In fact, Karnataka was among the top four States offering donation to AAP and ₹76.68 lakh was mobilised from Karnataka then.
The party, which has already started work on the BBMP polls in 2020, has started raising funds for its BBMP candidates. “This year on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, and October 15, on the occasion of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s birth anniversary, the party collected ₹12.38 lakh and ₹10.69 lakh respectively through social media fundraising,” said Darshan Jain, APP State joint secretary.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, several candidates cutting across party lines had taken to online crowdfunding to finance their election campaigns. Prominent among them are CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chaddah of the AAP; Nana Patole, Congress candidate from Nagpur; Mohammed Salim of the CPI(M), and Pedapudi Vijay Kumar of Bahujan Samaj Party.
