Dear Sir,
Let me invite your attention to the much talked about membership drive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has claimed to be the party with the highest number of membership in the world. Even though there has been several debates and discussions on the constitutionality of the members as per the constitution adopted by BJP through a missed call on a IVR, this was never challenged legally. The Article IX of the constitution of BJP as uploaded in a PDF format on the official BJP website which is the available document for general public says,
A)1. Any Indian citizen of the age of 18 years or above who accepts Article II, III and IV of the constitution shall, on making a written declaration in the membership form (Form A) and on payment of a prescribed subscription, become a member of the party, provided that he is not a member of any other political party.
Further Article XI (A) 3 says,
No person shall become a member except in his place of permanent residence or where he carries on his usual vocation but at one time he shall not be a member at more than one place. The member will have to apply in writing to the District / State concerned for a change of place.
The membership drive through a missed call is against the above mentioned provisions of the constitution of the BJP. No member is adhering to the conditions laid down as per the constitution and cannot be deemed as qualified memberships. Since the news made out of this campaign as the biggest political party in the world has direct influence on the voter mindset, this is done with a malafide intention to gain upper hand politically creating hype with fake memberships.
Even though there has been many complaints that the memberships were created without the knowledge of a person and also many cases of creating memberships forcefully, I am hereby bringing to your notice a fraudulent strategy adopted by the BJP to create membership forcefully.
If you Google search for Airtel Customer Care number, you will get a website with the address www.icustomercare.in/airtel-cu
Along with other customer care numbers, the website suggests a toll free number 1800 103 4444 as Airtel Customer Care number.
If you dial this number, the call gets disconnected and simultaneously you will get a SMS asking you to call from the registered number of membership or give a missed cal to 1800 266 2020 from a ID ‘IM-SAMPRK’. This is the number used by BJP for the missed call membership campaign. Technically to my understanding such a message can be generated only if the telephone number from which you dial does not exist in the BJP database and hence I believe that the membership database of BJP is used for this fraud.
Once you dial the number, you will get the message that you have become the member of BJP with a membership number.
This is a fraud committed with the knowledge of the party leadership to create fake members to claim upmanship in the politics of this country and thus manipulate the independent thinking of voters in their favour. Also, there is a serious breach of trust committed by a registered political party apart from the basic issue of forceful membership. This has to be seen as a serious issue that is against the basic principles of democracy and the personal choice of any individual. This is also against the sanctity of democracy.
I hereby request you to take appropriate action against the BJP for violating the conditions of the constitution and also to those responsible for the online fraud stated above.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
VD Satheesan
Member of Legislative Assembly
Paravoor Constituency