Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has claimed to have received donations ranging from Rs.10 to several lakhs, from rickshaw-pullers to traders to NRIs to help it fight the Delhi Assembly polls and bring a “corruption-free” administration.
It said it had so far received over Rs.12 crore as donations from cross section of people and most of them were first-time donors to a political party.
The AAP, which aims to collect Rs.20 crore for the upcoming elections, has received over Rs.6.20 crore from donors in India while the rest have come from NRIs based in the U.S., Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, UAE and even Saudi Arabia.
“We are receiving around Rs.10 lakh per day from all sources, and expect to hit the target of Rs.20 crore soon as we still have time before the elections. Also our door-to-door collection programme is a hit, as it allows us to establish a connect with people,” an AAP activist said.
The AAP, which has kept all its transactions and donations in public domain by posting details on its website, has got a large amount of donations from the U.S.-based NRIs.
“Over 4,000 donors have contributed a total of Rs. 1,16,67,059, which is around 12 per cent of the party’s total contribution, followed by NRIs in Hong Kong. One Hong Kong-based NRI has donated Rs.50 lakh for the party and assured us that he would urge other NRIs to donate more to the party fund,” the activist said.
The party has also been receiving funds from NRIs based in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait, New Zealand, Singapore, Norway, the U.K., the Netherlands and Japan. The AAP has over 47,000 online donors, which include rickshaw-pullers, soldiers from Siachen or businessmen in America, the AAP activist said.
