Nascent political movement KAM Meghalaya has received over Rs 9 lakh in donations from the public and it sees this as evidence that people want a change from the political status quo.
KAM has selected three candidates to represent it at the upcoming elections, though they will all stand as independents.
In its disclosure of accounts, KAM today revealed that, until December 31, it had raised Rs 9, 26,636 in monetary donations. More than half of this amount, though, has come in from outside Meghalaya, with 47 per cent (Rs 4.36 lakh) donated by state citizens.
KAM leader and its South Shillong candidate Angela Rangad said that donations have ranged from as little as Rs 200 to Rs 1 lakh, adding that some people have also donated in kind, with items such as milk, tea and rice.
Informing that KAM is now in its second phase of fundraising, she said, “We the members of KAM Meghalaya have always fought for transparency and accountability in electoral finances of political parties and campaigns. Election finances have always been a mystery and now more so with the introduction of electoral bonds. So when KAM Meghalaya decided to put up candidates for the Assembly election, we were sure that we would crowdfund our electoral expenses and regularly disclose our accounts.”
The other two KAM candidates are Wanpynhun Kharsyntiew for East Shillong and Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh for North Shillong.
“In the last seven months we have been going door-to-door to speak to families and understand their issues as well as their expectations from us. Each candidate has personally visited most of the households (around 70 per cent) and have personally interacted with close to 30 per cent of voters in each constituency,” Rangad added. “We have also been interacting with our electors through a series of pocket meetings and street meetings.”
Unlike other political parties that have hired corporate political consultants, KAM has tried to build its presence from the ground up and has circulated a participatory survey form for electors to provide their inputs into the manifesto it is preparing.
Findings of this survey include a predictable 95 per cent wanting a legislator who favours laws that improve the lives of people and 90 per cent wanting an honest, non-corrupt and accessible legislator. Only around 50 per cent, though, expressed a desire to have a representative with a reputation for honesty and with a track record of working for the interest of the people.
“We are in the process of analysing the other data from the survey, which will inform the creation of a people’s manifesto for the constituencies as well as for the state,” Rangad added.
