Aam Aadmi Party avoids print, electronic media to keep campaigning cost within limit

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is relying on social media and door-to-door canvassing for campaigning ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi this November, giving the electronic and print media a go-by as it plans to stick to the Election Commission’s expenditure limit of Rs 14 lakh per candidate.

The fledgling party, which is contesting elections for the first time and planning to field candidates in all 70 constituencies, just cannot afford the conventional media, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said. Hoardings are also beyond the budget of the AAP, which has put up banners across the city’s flyovers instead with apicture of Kejriwal wielding a broom, the party symbol, and promising a clean Delhi.

“Door-to-door campaign is our biggest focus. We want our candidates and representatives to go to every household, whether rich or poor, in the national capital and talk to them about the situation of corruption in Delhi,” said Kejriwal.

The party depends entirely on donations received from the public, Sanjay Singh, a member of the campaign committee, said, adding that the ‘Sweep Delhi Clean’ would be the mainstay of both door-to-door and online campaigning.

Notarised undertakings from candidates promising that they will not use benefits such as government bungalows, security guards and official vehicles if they are elected will be handed out by the party in pamphlets distributed during doorto-door visits. Kejriwal has an army of more than 1.25 lakh volunteers, making up for the lack of creative agencies, with individuals such as Rashmi Srivastav, who quit her job of a financial analyst in Texas, to work for the party.

“I do gap analysis in various constituencies and coordinate the campaign across Delhi. The cause motivates me more than the job,” Srivastav said. For its social media campaign, Kejriwal has volunteers in the US, the UK and Australia as well who spend hours drumming up support on Facebook and other social networking sites.“On Twitter, people become offensive.

The quality of the campaign is better on Facebook, where the quality of interaction with the public is much better,” said Ankit Lal, a volunteer who heads the social media campaign.