Crowdsourcing: A sign of digital democracy in action

With crowdsourcing of campaign and relief contributions through micropayments, the digitalisation of Indian democracy has added another dimension

In a recent social media post, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for crowdsourced inputs to aid in the formulation of his party, the BJP’s political manifesto ahead of the 2024 general elections. PM Modi’s call to action on crowdsourcing follows a more than decade-long digital tradition that has now become institutionalised.

Digital crowdsourcing has emerged as the norm for a variety of activities ranging from the monthly radio broadcasts of Mann Ki Baat to the Indepe­ndence Day Speech on August 15 every year. The origins of crowdsourcing political inputs from citizens through the internet date back to 2013 when Modi, the