Sonia Gandhi takes digital membership as Congress enrols 26 mn members

On the last day of the digital membership drive of the Congress, the party's interim President Sonia Gandhi enrolled herself on Friday and was issued a digital membership card.

Through the digital membership drive, Congress has added 2.6 crore members across all booths in all the Assembly segments of the country .

The party used the services of first-time designated enrollers who used a proprietary mobile phone app called 'Congress Membership App'. Every verified member got a digital ID card that is QR coded for authenticity.

A network of over 5 lakh party approved enrollers went door-to-door to enrol members across the length and breadth of the country.

"Ever since we started the drive, the key focus has been on the quality of membership, not just quantity. Every member is verified at three levels -- voter ID, photograph and phone number. The drive was strictly access controlled and only verified enrollers could use the membership app," said Praveen Chakravarty, Chairman, AICC data analytics department.

According to the information received from party sources, of the members who enrolled digitally, 42 per cent are women, while 47 per cent are in the age bracket of 18 to 40 year.

The Congress' digital membership drive was launched from Telangana in February.

The membership drive was significant as the party is heading towards internal polls and the members will elect the delegates for PCC and AICC, which constitute the electoral college.