Volunteers of AAP: Meet Charanjeet Singh

Originally from Kurukshetra and after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Charanjeet Singh moved to Delhi in Feb 2013. He met Arvind Kejriwal in his Kaushambi office. During that time, Charanjeet had few months to decide about his future and he asked Arvind if he can contribute to AAP for couple of months. He was introduced to Ankit Lal and assigned some IT work. Following his instincts, Charanjeet never looked back at his post-graduate entrance examinations (GATE) results for which he had appeared before he joined Arvind.  He is still volunteering at the same location.

The computer science graduate is helping Aam Aadmi Party with others in achieving its social media goals and securing its databases. Since the beginning, Charanjeet is involved in IT services, server management, application development, calling campaigns and other activities on social media. Few major projects where Charanjeet participated with other members are:

1. Mobile App Development: A mobile app was developed which was very helpful during Punjab elections. A survey of 25 - 30 lakhs people was conducted using the app
2. Calling Campaign: A web portal was designed to connect volunteers/supporters living in different parts of India and the world. The portal was designed in a way that on login a volunteer/supporter was directly connected to voters (via a phone call) to spread the AAP manifesto and talk about problems in their constituency
3. www.aamaadmiparty.org: Built www.aamaadmiparty.org from scratch and maintaining the website since then

The completely volunteer-run website is doing an extraordinary job in maintaining not only its look but also managing response to different queries. AAP website developed by Charanjeet is also the main source for online donations received. While cybersecurity is a big issue (many accounts of celebrities and even defense ministry website have been hacked), AAP website has been running successfully with all the latest security measures. In a recent update, donation via UPI were also integrated. 

Ankit Lal and Charanjeet Singh (Oct 2013) 

Challenges and Resources: Aam Aadmi Party social media campaigns and other activities on ground are completely depended on volunteers. There is no paid staff doing 9 to 5 jobs like other major parties. Volunteers join and leave based on their availability and commitments. As a result, team has to use the services of volunteers based on their schedule and assign tasks where they are needed the most. Many volunteers work remotely from different cities and their homes. With different skills and availability, it is also challenging to allocate works to different volunteers. And sometimes because of a limited pool of volunteers, finding participants for special projects is very challenging. Similar problems are also faced by the team working on ground level activities.

Information Accuracy: All AAP and other sympathisers get the party updates from different platforms on social media. With limited media coverage, information available on Facebook pages and Twitter handles is very critical. Many pages are run by volunteers using their individual capability and creativity. With the possibility (intentionally or unintentionally) of sharing fake information, user should only rely on information shared by verified pages. Even some of the Facebook pages are not officially associated with the party. There exists AAP official pages at the state and city level and many of them are verified. Information shared on these pages is reliable as it is first hand information coming from official sources. In case of third party sources, information is first verified then shared.

Developments and Requirements: After a break in 2015, newsletter distribution work has slowly started and soon will be sent at regular intervals. There are many projects under development but their execution is slow because of lack of volunteers and experts. Consequently, the project execution rely on certain number of volunteers who need to learn the technology before getting involved in a project. This process delays the project completion deadline. Either on ground or in a virtual world, volunteers are the mouthpiece of AAP. With several projects under development and many in queue, AAP is looking forward for more volunteers with special skills. Some of the skills required by the team are:

• .Net Development 
• Java Development 
• Android/iOS Development 
• Facebook App Development 
• Python Scripting 
• Wordpress Developments 

If Aam Aadmi Party is surviving today, it’s mainly because of the selfless work of volunteers. There might be many buyers ready to invest in AAP and provide all the resources party need. If this happens, AAP will not be any different than other parties because it will be forced to work for its bosses. Kudos to all the volunteers like Charanjeet who brought AAP this far and providing a challenge to old established parties. If you have any of the skills mentioned above and are able to spent couple of hours a week, please come forward and join the team by sending an email to AAP Overseas.

Read more stories of AAP Volunteers.

AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and the guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat).