Congress crowdfunding attempts on the verge of incoming elections and their donation terms

Crowdfunding is a very popular concept among new ventures and startups. In recent years, crowdfunding has also been wisely used in the establishment of new political parties in India. To name some, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Peoples Resurgence & Justice Alliance (PRJA) and Swaraj India are some of them which have utilized crowdfunding. These parties have been very successful in attracting donations from common people as online donation is transparent and convenient. 

Congress Appeal for Crowdfunding: When a decades-old political party is pitching the idea of transparency in political donations, it is something unusual. Recently, Congress appealed for clean politics and asked for donations through crowdfunding via their twitter handle @INCIndia. This move comes when only three days are remaining for voting and just one day for campaigning. How and where are they going to utilize the money? The appeal was in support of Congress Karnataka candidate Dr. Yogesh Babu, whose win or loss result will be declared on May 15 (6 days after the crowdfunding appeal).

“If you believe in clean politics, I urge you to kindly contribute, because every bit counts.”
Here's our SM & Digital Communications Chairperson @divyaspandana's appeal in support of Dr Yogesh Babu.
Click here to contribute: https://t.co/MEQOUx4qvM#CleanPoliticsWithINC pic.twitter.com/c5GocjyaRh

— Congress (@INCIndia) May 9, 2018

The tweet does't say upfront the amount of donations they need but mentioned stealthily on their terms and conditions (T&C) page that crowdfunding campaign can only generate a maximum of Rs. 28 lakhs. It was a first of its kind appeal even when the Congress website supports an online donations gateway. No appeal of this nature has been made by the BJP (please leave the link in comment if you know any). On the other hand, AAP candidates can be found requesting and accepting donations on their social media and YouTube videos from months now. Their donation link is also clearly posted next to their candidate profile on http://candidates.aapkar.in/.

In case of the Congress appeal for crowdfunding, two points are beyond my comprehension:

1. Appeal on May 9 to crowdfund Rs 28 lakhs when only 3 days are left in final voting. Full amount (as per the ECI) has been requested for fundraising but does this mean that the candidate has not raised or spent any money since Apt 18 (official date when Congress declared their candidates)? If so, how did the candidates campaigned?  
2. Crowdfunding for only one candidate while fighting on all 224 seats.  Congress is fighting on all 224 seats, but it seems only one candidate lack funds. Not just a partial amount but full funds are asked for in donation. How about other candidates? If rest of the 223 candidates are fighting using public money (raised by personal fundraising campaigns), they might serve public, but if they have invested their own money, will they work for public welfare?  

In a tweet from Divya Spandana, it appears that Congress is the first political party in India to launch an online crowdfunding campaign using the platform "ketto.org". This claim of hers is completely wrong. Even if it is believed that the way AAP or Swaraj India accept donations is not exactly crowdfunding (as mentioned by Ms. Divya in one of her tweets), one of the other parties (PRJA) has already used the website ketto.org to raise funds for last Manipur elections. 

Congress party is the first political party in India to launch an online crowdfunding campaign to bring in transparency in political funding, please do your bit in contributing towards #CleanPoliticswithINC https://t.co/jJaM4KDkqr

— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) May 9, 2018

Transparency: Congress spokespeople assert that the crowdfunding process is very transparent as it displays the name of donors. But in reality the platform not only allows anonymous donations but also force users to accept lengthy T&C. Most of the users dont bother to read T&C but if you decide to do so, it will take atleast 10 min to read and understand. Full T&C from their website are given below. It is okay to accept the term of being 18+ year old Indian citizen as only those can donate, provide true information and allow official communication. Anything needed beyond this must be provided with a purpose.

Terms and Conditions from Congress fundraise 

Ketto.Org: Partnership with ketto.org is not mentioned by the Congress party anywhere other than a small text in their T&C. It is also mentioned that it will be raising a sum of upto 28 Lakhs which is the election expenditure for one MLA candidate in Karnataka. Remember, this was not mentioned in their initial appeal.

A snap of Congress T&C 

Anonymous Donation: Divya confirmed full transparency in donations to Congress but there is a checkbox on the website which supports anonymous donations. Where is the transparency?

Anonymous donation is allowed on Congress donation portal 

Even for the actual names visible on the donors list, no surety as to them being genuine can be provided. This is because one can give any misguided information as long as the card information is correct. And card/account details are held secret under the website privacy protection guidelines.

Testing with anonymous information on Congress donation portal 

Only one customary statement asking to confirm the authenticity of entered details is provided on the website. On an interesting note, refund is not possible. So, if a person is not eligible to donate or due to some reason they messed it up, no money is received back.

Third Party Communication: You are giving all your contact and banking information to your trusted political party. And the party added a clause that you can be contacted by their affiliates and partners. This means your information can be shared with third parties and they can further sell/share the information or contact you with some promotional offers or spam your phone/email.

A snap of Congress T&C 

BJP Donations: I haven't heard of any kind of appeal for donations from BJP. In case you come across any proposal from BJP, please leave the link in comments. Ohhh wait! Why will they do so? (BJP income is double than 6 major national parties).

AAP Donations: I have been donating to AAP since 2014 and know about many others who are doing the same at regular intervals. Compared to the lengthy list of Congress T&C and hidden partnership with third parties, AAP T&C is simple and precise (see the pic below). When you donate to AAP, only a few things related to legal requirements, official communication and information provided needs to be agreed upon.

AAP donation T&C