Party seeks to crowdfund its poll campaign

Karnataka Rashtra Samithi is on a road show to collect contributions from voters

A political party has started a public donation drive to raise Rs 100 crore as it forays into Assembly elections, coming up in a few months.

The Karnataka Rashtra Samithi (KRS) calls it Mahaa Bhikshaa Yatre, and believes citizens can make politicians more accountable by participating financially in their campaigns.

The funds will be used to campaign in all 224 constituencies in the state, including buying about 40 vehicles and fitting them with public address systems, banners, and a mini stage.

KRS president Ravi Krishna Reddy says, “Other parties are trolling us for begging for money from the public, but we see it as an exercise towards participatory democracy.”

If a politician pays you to vote, you can’t hold him accountable for not fulfilling his promises, says Reddy, who is also the honorary president of the anti-bribe forum Lancha Mukta Karnataka Nirmana Vedike.

Socialist leader Shantaveri Gopala Gowda was the pioneer of crowdfunding poll expenditure in Karnataka.“He launched the ‘One vote, one note’ campaign during India’s first general election in the early 1950s,” Reddy recalls. A circle near Vidhana Soudha is named after him.

KRS, contesting Assembly elections for the first time, will share details of money received and spent in a monthly statement online. “Our mission has always been to become a public-funded party,” he says.

The state-wide drive was launched on November 20 in Mulbagal taluk, and volunteers have since travelled to Mangaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, and Raichur collecting funds in hundis (donation boxes). “We have raised a little above Rs 6 lakh so far. The maximum has come from Bengaluru, Rs 25,000 on an average per day,” he says.

Given the mistrust towards politicians among the public, how are they mobilising these funds? He says the youth of Karnataka knows about their work through social media and trusts them. They are also availing a loan of Rs 50 lakh to fund the poll efforts.