1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how the official website of Shri Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma (“BJP Varma”) — accessible at bjpvarma.co.in — collects, uses, stores, and protects information you provide when interacting with the site.

We comply with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) and process your information lawfully and only for the purposes described here.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information you choose to share with us through specific interactions:

• Contact form submissions: Your name, email address, subject, and message.
• Newsletter subscriptions: Your email address.
• “Make It Better” (citizen grievance) submissions: Your name, mobile number, email address, location (state, district, mandal, ward, pincode), the subject and description of your grievance, and any attached documents or photos you upload.
• “Make It Better” registered accounts: Your name, mobile number, email address, and a hashed (one-way encrypted) password.
• Technical information: Standard server logs (IP address, browser type, time of request) — kept briefly for security and abuse prevention.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To respond to your queries and grievances.
• To send you periodic updates about constituency work, parliamentary activity, and ministerial initiatives — only if you have subscribed.
• To assign citizen grievances to the appropriate office staff for follow-up.
• To verify your identity when you log in to track your grievances.
• To improve the website and prevent abuse.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for marketing.

4. Where Your Information Is Stored

Your data is stored on infrastructure operated by Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in the Mumbai (asia-south1) region:

• Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL — primary database for grievances, users, and tickets.
• Cloud Storage — two buckets. A public bucket for website images (slideshow, press, gallery). A private bucket for citizen-uploaded evidence files, accessible only via short-lived signed links generated server-side.

All data transit uses TLS (HTTPS). Daily backups are stored in a separate private Cloud Storage bucket and retained for 7 days.

5. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate the site:

• Gmail SMTP (Google) — to send notification emails (contact form confirmations, OTPs, ticket updates).
• Google Cloud Platform — hosting and storage as described above.
• Meta WhatsApp Business Cloud API — for ticket-related WhatsApp notifications, where enabled. Only ticket number and minimal context are transmitted.
• SociableKit — to embed publicly-visible social-media feeds on the homepage. No personal data is shared.

The site uses no third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking services.

6. Your Rights Under the DPDP Act, 2023

As a Data Principal, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Erase your personal data, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Withdraw consent for processing (e.g. unsubscribe from emails).
• Grievance redressal in case you believe your data is being mishandled.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Grievance Officer (see Section 9 below).

7. Data Retention

• Contact form messages: retained as long as required for follow-up, then archived or deleted.
• Newsletter subscriptions: retained until you unsubscribe.
• Citizen grievances and attachments: retained for the lifetime of the ticket and a reasonable period thereafter for audit purposes.
• Server logs: retained briefly for security purposes (typically 30 days).

8. Security

Passwords are stored using one-way encryption (bcrypt). Sessions are protected by signed, HTTP-only cookies with strict same-site policies. Citizen file uploads are stored in a private bucket and accessed only through short-lived signed links generated after a permission check. All form submissions are protected against cross-site forgery.

9. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the DPDP Act, 2023:

We aim to acknowledge grievances within 7 working days and resolve them within 30 days.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in the law. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Significant changes will be highlighted on the homepage.

11. Contact

For any privacy-related questions, please contact us at office@bjpvarma.co.in or via the contact form on this website.