BJP sets up LED screen giving info on membership drive at HQ

With its membership drive extended by a month, BJP has installed a digital screen outside its party headquarters giving the number of new members enrolled and missed calls received.
BJP had yesterday claimed a membership of nine crores, making it the largest political party in the world, as its online drive to enrol new members was extended till April 30.
Though BJP has been projecting the membership drive as a huge success with the screen at its headquarters showing over 9 crore members and over 15 crore missed calls received, its rivals have questioned the claim.
The Congress raised questions over the genuineness of the claim and dubbed the BJP as the "biggest missed call party".

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed had suggested that BJP's membership drive was erroneous and claimed that a Congress Legislature Party leader and a party spokesperson had also received messages about their enrolment.
Brushing aside Congress' criticism, National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said the LED screen clearly showed that the number of missed calls had crossed over 15 crore but the number of total members was over 9 crore.

"It is a three step process...When a person gives a missed call, he receives a message which requires him to send his details to a mobile number. After the details are smsed to the other number, a confirmation message is received," Sharma said, adding the party could soon launch a mass-contact programme as well.

Sharma said the party had extended the campaign to enroll more people till April 30 on the request of some state units.
"There had been local bodies' elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal when the membership drive was on. Other states like Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Haryana were busy in Assembly elections. These states units had sought extension of the membership drive," he said.