JD(S) registers 2.5 lakh new members in first week of campaign

Bengaluru: A week into the missed call campaign launched by the JD(S), the regional party has already registered 2.5 lakh members. The party has launched a 58-day statewide tour aimed at galvanising the cadre for the 2028 Assembly elections.

Party Youth Wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy said that reaching out to the 50 lakh people who have consistently voted for the JD(S) was the first objective of his mission.

The JD(S) is effectively leveraging technology to maximise its outreach among voters. Nikhil said, “We can receive up to 1,000 missed calls at a time, and the system will still not hang. When the system gets a missed call, an OTP is generated, using which voters can register themselves by providing very basic information – name, gender, age, their Assembly constituency. Uploading the photograph is optional.”

The JD(S) has constituted teams comprising senior leaders in every panchayat as part of its outreach programme. Making it clear that the campaign effectively marked the start of the JD(S) campaign for the Assembly polls, Nikhil added,“We are identifying 5,000 active party in every constituency, and issuing identity cards to them. They will be the ones who will run the show in the future, besides acting as our points of contact in these constituencies.”

The JD(S) has also designed brochures to inform voters about the legacy and accomplishments of Deve Gowda and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy

On the completion of the missed call campaign, the party will hold two huge rallies – one each in the Old Mysore and Kalyana Karnataka regions – where the 50 lakh-strong base of the JD(S) will be invited.

Nikhil said that the campaign would help pre-empt future conflicts with alliance partner BJP. “If our workers and candidates have done the groundwork, and are well prepared in their respective constituencies, we can present this data to the BJP central leadership, and demand tickets for specific seats. While we will ask for a large number of seats, we must also be practical, and ensure we are well prepared,” he added.