BJP adds 3.78 crore new members, surpasses target of 2.2 crore after culmination of 'successful' membership drive

New Delhi: With the culmination of its “successful” membership drive, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increased its strength nearly by 3.78 crore members, taking it to over 14.78 crore. “BJP has added 3,78,67,753 crore new members with the conclusion of its membership drive. The campaign which started on 6 July concluded on 20 August,” the BJP said in a statement. BJP’s membership drive began on 6 July, the birth anniversary of its founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, and continued till August 20. [caption id=“attachment_7103441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. ANI[/caption] The saffron party had claimed to have 11 crore members ahead of the beginning of membership drive. The party had set the target to increase the number of members by 20 percent, which is 2.20 crore. The membership drive was the first step towards the election of the new BJP President who is likely to elected by January 2020. Over 62 lakh new members were added in Uttar Pradesh taking the numbers of BJP members in the electorally crucial state to over 1.80 crore. On a single day, the party added 10 lakh new members on 19 August. The saffron party added over 15 lakh new members in Delhi within a span of 1.5 months. The party has also gained in increasing its strength in West Bengal where over 35 lakh new members joined the party. According to party leaders during the successful membership drive 2.96 crore new members were added through missed calls while 82.87 lakh were added through Namo App and the BJP website. They said the numbers of total members would increase and may touch the five crore figure after the offline data is counted later this week. This comes in wake of BJP’s mission to double the figure after its mammoth victory in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.