Funds boost for Aam Aadmi Party ahead of Delhi polls

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party collected over Rs 50 lakh in donations on Sunday during AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s interaction with traders over lunch in the Capital as part of its fund raising campaign ahead of elections in Delhi.

AAP hopes to raise Rs 30 crore for Delhi polls, which is Rs 10 crore more than the budget for its electoral debut last year. With fresh elections just a few months away, the party will rely heavily on quick ways of crowd sourcing donations. AAP was the first to host fund-raising dinners and lunches to finance an election campaign.

The party hosted its first fundraising do in Mumbai last week where young professionals, diamond merchants and bankers were invited to interact with Kejriwal for Rs 20,000 per plate. AAP collected Rs 91 lakh through this event.

On Sunday Kejriwal, along with AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Ashutosh and Pankaj Gupta interacted with close to 150 traders over lunch for over two hours, said Brijesh Goyal, who organised the event on behalf of the party. Kejriwal reiterated his electoral promises of simplifying VAT and reducing inspector raj for the trader community.

Party donations, which practically dried up after Lok Sabha elections, have once again picked after the Delhi assembly was dissolved. This month the party has received Rs 1,01,82,280 from 5,659 donors. For the 2013 assembly polls, the party had received Rs 20 crore between November 2012 and November 2013.