Donations increase for AAP after controversies

After some lean days during Arvind Kejrwal’s agitation against the Delhi police, the flow of donations to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has picked up its usual speed.

“The inflow of donations is steady and it will certainly pick up once the list of candidates is out,” senior AAP leader Sanjiv Sane told Deccan Herald.

The AAP leaders said candidates’ personal credibility will contribute to the inflow of donations. The party is considering important personalities.

“Donations, right now, are the part of regular contributions and the collections for the election purposes is on a halt till candidates are announced,” the AAP leader said.
According to the website which monitors the donations to the party, till Thursday, the party has received donations to the tune of over Rs 6 crore.

The website aaptrends.com, maintained by an AAP supporter, shows how the controversy over Somnath Bharati and the dharna that followed it affected the inflow of contributions to the party. The donation on January 16 was close to Rs 4.5 lakh and fell to a little over Rs 1.5 lakh on January 17. It rose to over Rs 2 lakh on 18, again came down to Rs 1.67 lakh on January 19.  The speed remained somewhat slow with the contribution of Rs 2 lakh on 20 and Rs 3 lakh each on January 21 and 22.

However, the speed of contributions picked up on January 23 which recorded Rs 4.5 lakh. The United States tops the source of donations from outside the country. The 85 countries from where the donations are coming in include the United Kingdom, the Gulf countries, Singapore, Australia and Germany among others.