Bangalore’s techies log on to Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP’s volunteer base

It’s past 8 pm in the evening on a Thursday and a commercial building complex off Bangalore’s main thoroughfare has emptied out, except for a small office where a group of people is discussing technology. Some of them are just back from a regular workday at the city’s IT companies, and it looks like another long night ahead.

It’s the back office of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Bangalore and the brainstorming is over what software platform can build in greater transparency into fund-raising as well as make cash donations fool-proof.

The team is an assortment of volunteers and many of them hadn’t met till recently. The good news for the fledgling political party is that more help is on the way. There are around 3,000 volunteers already in Bangalore available on call to write software, design posters, manage websites, post comments or prepare publicity material and roughly 7,000 more waiting in queue.

“Our HR team needs more people to sort out the applications and assign jobs to volunteers,” said Anand Janakiraman, vice-president, software, at Strand Life Sciences, who began volunteering full-time for AAP two months ago after opting for a sabbatical from the Bangalore-based company that develops software and services for life sciences research. “This is similar to a corporate organisation and that’s where our expertise comes into play. For me, it’s just a switch from contributing to science to making a contribution to clean politics,” said Janakiraman, adding that he was not associated with the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. “The (impact of) Delhi elections was so strong, I felt something had to be done.”

Bangalore’s IT-BPO population, which accounts for just under a tenth of the city’s population of over 9 million and has long been accused of remaining aloof from the political process, seems to be responding, according to some AAP veterans. “We are using IT solutions so that we can do a number of checks, and so that nobody can collect money without being authorised to,” said Nitin Sharma, an IT professional who has been with the anti-corruption movement since April 2011. “There are people telling us

Related Posts

• Wife says he felt let down by AAP
  Wife says he felt let down by AAP
• 5th attack, yet Arvind Kejriwal refuses security
  5th attack, yet Arvind Kejriwal refuses security
• Narasimha Rao’s grandson to contest on AAP ticket in Andhra
  Narasimha Rao’s grandson to contest on AAP ticket in Andhra
• AAP’s Sunil Digamber Kulkarni to fight against Narendra Modi
  AAP’s Sunil Digamber Kulkarni to fight against Narendra Modi