The Aam Aadmi Party's coffer has once again started to swell with donations after its convenor Arvind Kejriwal urged people to contribute "wholeheartedly" to the party for future electoral battles.
"Within 12 hours after party leader Arvind Kejriwal asked for resumption of donations, Rs 22,71,740 was received from 1,957 donors. We thank people for their support. We feel blessed and honoured," AAP's Bipul Dey said on Thursday night.
By 9am on Friday, the figure had crossed Rs. 32-lakh mark.
The party had on November 17 stopped asking for donations after its target of Rs 20 crore was met. Of the Rs 20 crore that the AAP received from 71,616 people, it spent Rs 18.25 crore on the Delhi elections. It has a corpus of Rs 1.75 crore.
Kejriwal on Wednesday had said at a party meeting at Jantar Mantar in new Delhi, "There may be re-election in Delhi because of the fractured mandate. And we are certainly going to fight the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. We need money. I urge people to donate as wholeheartedly as they did earlier."
"Earlier people feared donating to us - they said their details appear on our website and the political class will shut their business. Now they know we have the people's mandate. They have nothing to worry," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Earlier people feared donating to us - they said their details appear on our website and the political class will shut their business. Now they know we have the people's mandate. They have nothing to worry," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The party will now decentralise the donation collection process, a party official said.
"Since parliamentary elections will be held across all states, there will be an option for people to donate in a way so that their money would be used in their constituency or state," said Ankit Lal.
The party has sent a reply to a 30-point questionnaire sent to it by the union home ministry on November 4 following complaints that it was receiving donations from foreign nationals.
The results of the assembly election has thrown up a hung assembly in Delhi with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) winning 32 seats with partner Akali Dal, the AAP 28 seats, and the incumbent Congress relegated to just eight seats.
Delhi is now staring at President's rule and subsequent re-elections for its 70-member assembly as the BJP on Thursday told Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung it would not form a government in the absence of a simple majority. The AAP too has made clear its intention of not staking claim to form the government.