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Tribal activist Soni Sori is more popular than Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal among the party supporters, if we go by donation trends.
The tribal activist has managed to mop up more funds for her constituency than AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal through online fund raising. AAP had launched a customised donation campaign named My AAP where people could contribute to their candidates in specific constituencies.
Sori, who is contesting from the Lok Sabha constituency of Bastar in Chhattisgarh,one of the regions most affected by Maoist insurgency in the country, has so far managed to raise Rs 3.58 lakh from her supporters. On the other hand, Kejriwal, who is poised for the most challenging fight this season against Bharatiya Janata Party prime minister candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi, has managed to raise Rs 3.29 lakh. Sori has a bank deposit of merely Rs 424 and is the poorest AAP candidate, the party maintains.
According to the Election Commission rules, a candidate is entitled to spend Rs 70 lakh for his/her election campaign after the model code of conduct kicks in. The highest funds in a constituency among all AAP candidates have been raised by journalist-turned-politician Anita Pratap from Kerala.
Contesting from the Ernakulam seat, Pratap has raised Rs 4.38 lakh for her constituency with the highest number of donors — 271 so far.
The party is going all out to collect funds for the polls and has adopted various methods in the past to accomplish this task including fund raising dinners, opening up to EMI transactions, etc.
Through the My AAP initiative, the party sends out frequent mails to its supporters “introducing” them to the various candidates and urging them to donate.
