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    500 NRIs fly in to volunteer for AAP's campaign

    Synopsis

    Kamal Garg, a software engineer based in Vancouver, Canada, is in Delhi for three weeks. The visit is not to spend time with his friends and family, but to work as a volunteer for AAP.

    PTIIPTI

    Apart from NRIs, nearly 8,000 AAP supporters from other states have come to Delhi to help in the election campaign.

    (This story originally appeared in on Feb 04, 2020)
    NEW DELHI: Kamal Garg, a software engineer based in Vancouver, Canada, is in Delhi for three weeks. The visit is not to spend time with his friends and family, but to work as a volunteer for AAP.

    Garg, also a social media manager of AAP working from Canada, is one of the nearly 500 NRIs who are in Delhi to help the party in the elections. Many have been volunteering from the days when chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was a part of India Against Corruption and AAP was yet to be born.

    “In Canada, priority is given to education and health. And that is what Kejriwal has followed. I have visited some Schools of Excellence in Delhi and they are as good as the best schools in the world. I will go back to Canada after the swearing-in ceremony of the AAP government,” said the soft-spoken Garg with a confident smile.

    Prithvi Reddy, a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur, who is the convener of AAP Overseas and a member of the party’s national executive, said, “This is a party that works 24x7 because of the different time zones in which our supporters reside. Our IT edge is thanks to these volunteers. Every election, NRIs have come to India and supported the party.” Reddy said nearly 20% of all donations received by AAP come from overseas supporters. They had a target of Rs 50 crore for the assembly elections. Apart from NRIs, nearly 8,000 AAP supporters from other states have come to Delhi to help in the election campaign.

    The co-convener of AAP Overseas, Preeti Sharma, said that volunteers have come from countries like Canada, US, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and UAE. Reddy said many volunteers based in the Middle East are also helping in taking calls from people. Charanjit Garewal, who is from the UK, said that Delhi and other cities will become like New York or California and AAP has started working towards that goal.


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