The Congress party appears to be facing an increasingly uncomfortable financial challenge. Its disclosed donations have witnessed a dramatic decline, raising questions about whether corporate contributors, electoral trusts, and even individual supporters are becoming less enthusiastic about backing the Grand Old Party while it remains under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.
According to the latest contribution filings with the Election Commission, Congress received just ₹130.69 crore in donations, compared with ₹517.39 crore in 2024-25. This represents a staggering 75 per cent decline and the sharpest annual fall in a decade.
The numbers become particularly interesting when examined against the party’s recent political trajectory of tilting more left than the communist parties. Congress had collected ₹281.48 crore in 2023-24, with donations rising to ₹517.39 crore during the 2024-25 Lok Sabha election year. The subsequent decline suggests that the post-election financial momentum has not been sustained.
One significant contributor to the fall has been Prudent Electoral Trust. Its contribution to Congress dropped from ₹216.34 crore in 2024-25 to just ₹25 crore in 2025-26, an approximately 88 per cent reduction. The trust accounted for a substantial portion of the party’s earlier collections.
Does this indicate that even traditional supporters and influential donors are beginning to reconsider their relationship with Congress?
That is an important political question. Have traditional Congress donors abandoned the party due to lack of faith in Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, or are they looking for alternatives and funding new political organisations like the Cockroach Janata Party? We don’t know.
Nevertheless, the financial contrast with the BJP remains striking. In 2024-25, the BJP received ₹6,074 crore in disclosed donations above ₹20,000, almost 12 times Congress’s collection. The BJP’s corresponding 2025-26 figures have not yet been made public, making a direct comparison for that year premature. But it is pretty clear which horse the investors are backing to win Indians’ trust.
There is another important qualification. Donations above ₹20,000 are only one component of party finances. Membership collections, smaller contributions, coupon sales and other receipts also matter. In 2024-25, Congress collected over ₹350 crore through coupons alone. Its complete audited accounts for 2025-26 are therefore necessary to understand the full financial picture.
Still, the sharp fall raises questions that Congress cannot simply brush aside. Rahul Gandhi has sought to position himself as the face of the opposition’s challenge to the BJP. But political leadership involves more than parliamentary speeches, street drama, press conferences and electoral campaigns. It also involves maintaining organisational strength and the confidence of those willing to finance the party.
Whether the latest figures reflect temporary fundraising fluctuations or a deeper erosion of donor confidence remains to be seen. For Congress, however, the message is clear that rebuilding its financial network is becoming an important part of rebuilding its political organisation.
