AAP candidates have Crowdfunded their way to power

Bengaluru: Twenty-one Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates in the Delhi state election raised campaign funds through online crowdfunding platform ourdemocracy.in, with as many as 18 of them winning. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP swept the February 8 poll, winning 62 out of 70 seats.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Atishi Marlena, Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Sanjeev Jha were among the candidates who successfully contested their elections with the support of small contributions from voters. Sisodia and Marlena managed to raise Rs 28 lakh – the Election Commission cap on expenditure for assembly elections – through the platform.

“We don’t take large donations – they come with a quid pro quo,” said Marlena, who won from Kalkaji. “We want to collect small donations with no strings attached, give people a stake in democracy.”

Ourdemocracy.in was launched last year in January before the Lok Sabha election. It was founded by Anand Mangnale, who was with I-PAC, the political campaign outfit run by Prashant Kish- or, and ex-journalist Bilal Zaidi. Since then more than 220 candidates from all major national and state political parties have raised Rs 6 crore on the platform in various elections throughout the country.

Apart from the AAP website, this time the party encouraged many of its candidates to raise funds for themselves to meet local expenditure. AAP candidates raised Rs 1.20 crore through almost 3,000 donors on the platform. Political leaders from other parties raised about Rs 2 lakh on the platform.


“Sometimes people want to donate but don’t know how to,” said Bhardwaj, who represents Greater Kailash. “Sometimes they are too shy to donate small amounts and aren’t sure it will reach the candidates. This platform has made it easy to donate. If crowdfunding becomes successful in India most corruption and crony capitalism will go away.”

AAP national executive member Prithvi Reddy said that raising funds through crowdsourcing not only makes candidates more independent but also deepens the connect with voters.

AAP has used crowdfunding since its 2013 poll debut. In November last year, Kejriwal appealed to people to help AAP, saying that the party does not have the money to fight the upcoming elections. It then intensified efforts to garner political donations.

“If individuals donate, they become part of the election campaign,” said Jha, AAP MLA from Burari constituency. “Corporates want an undue advantage when they fund elections. That is the fear. When you are crowdsourcing funds, you are making your campaign mass through individual contributions.”

Zaidi, founder and executive director at ourdemocracy.in, said that even when the candidates are not able to raise all their funds from the platform, they get the right endorsement from their donors.