AAP plans low-profile and unconventional poll campaign

Citing fund crunch, the Aam Aadmi Party has announced plans to conduct a low-profile campaign for the Lok Sabha polls using unconventional methods such as street plays and youth internships to woo voters.

The AAP’s modest donations, far lower than that received by parties such as the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have forced the fledgling outfit to refrain from approaching the people through traditional methods like posters, TV advertisements, or large-scale publicity from the print media.

The party led by former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is aspiring to emerge as the third alternative in the Narendra Modi–ruled State.

“We are [an] Aam Aadmi having little funds. We will launch our political campaign in a very low-profile manner, staging street plays from next week,” said AAP’s Gujarat convener Sukhdev Patel.

“We cannot afford to advertise through the electronic or print media like big parties,” said Mr. Patel.

Apart from the traditional door-to-door campaigning, the party will also hold nukkad charchas (roadside meetings), mohalla sabhas and an internship programme for youths,” Mr. Patel said.

“In the Delhi election campaign, we launched an internship programme for students which met with great success. We will follow that model here in Gujarat,” party spokesperson Harshil Nayak said.

“We have launched the same programme here and some students have responded. We will also give them a small reward in form of an appreciation certificate,” he added. The party intends to rope in youngsters to man the party’s social media and accounting needs.

“We will throng the streets soon by presenting creative dramas, for which a team of 15 young people has been working hard on,” Nayak said.

“Through the students’ internship programme, we can also reach [out] to their families in a cost-effective manner, without spending a penny on TV or radio ads,” he said. Political commentator Dinesh Shukla saw the AAP’s move as an attempt to distinguish themselves from the two national parties.

“They are known to take unconventional ways to maintain their unique identity,” Mr. Shukla said. “If they keep campaigning in a typical manner, they cannot make an impact in the minds of common people.”