BJP has become the largest political party in the world with its enrolment drive in the past five months taking its membership to 8.8 crore. The Communist Party of China was until now considered the largest party with about 8.6 crore members.
Sources said the party hit the 8.8 crore mark on Sunday and the BJP expects its membership to cross 10 crore by the end of this month, exactly what it had aimed for when it launched the drive in November last year. Party president Amit Shah will announce the final figure at the national executive to be held in Bangalore on April 3-4.
The ambitious drive was Shah's idea. He views a base of active members as a device for consolidating the party's freshly achieved pre-eminence. However, sceptics say the groundswell in membership is no reliable reflection of the party's actual strength on the ground. The BJP is set to become the world's largest party soon. However, sceptics say that while PM Narendra Modi's popularity and the party's current influence may draw thousands into the fold, their loyalty will remain suspect and they might bolt when the going gets tough.
Sources in the party maintain that the enrolment through missed calls is a huge improvement over the old practice where block-level functionaries would mention names of purported members to meet targets.
The leadership had no way of independently verifying these claims.
In the new scheme, the party can scrutinize registrations by calling up numbers from where missed calls originated. The membership drive will officially come to an end on March 31 but there are chances it may be extended in a few states like Maharashtra where according to the party , a large number of people are still calling to register them selves with the party. After UP, where it has set a target of 1.5 crore, Maharashtra is expected to fetch the maximum number of members for the party.
Sources said the party hit the 8.8 crore mark on Sunday and the BJP expects its membership to cross 10 crore by the end of this month, exactly what it had aimed for when it launched the drive in November last year. Party president Amit Shah will announce the final figure at the national executive to be held in Bangalore on April 3-4.
The ambitious drive was Shah's idea. He views a base of active members as a device for consolidating the party's freshly achieved pre-eminence. However, sceptics say the groundswell in membership is no reliable reflection of the party's actual strength on the ground. The BJP is set to become the world's largest party soon. However, sceptics say that while PM Narendra Modi's popularity and the party's current influence may draw thousands into the fold, their loyalty will remain suspect and they might bolt when the going gets tough.
Sources in the party maintain that the enrolment through missed calls is a huge improvement over the old practice where block-level functionaries would mention names of purported members to meet targets.
The leadership had no way of independently verifying these claims.
In the new scheme, the party can scrutinize registrations by calling up numbers from where missed calls originated. The membership drive will officially come to an end on March 31 but there are chances it may be extended in a few states like Maharashtra where according to the party , a large number of people are still calling to register them selves with the party. After UP, where it has set a target of 1.5 crore, Maharashtra is expected to fetch the maximum number of members for the party.
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