Congress Party Reports Nearly 75% Drop in Disclosed Donations for 2025-26

The Indian National Congress has recorded a sharp decline in its political funding disclosures for the financial year 2025-26. According to an analysis of the party's filings with the Election Commission, receipts from donations exceeding ₹20,000 plunged nearly 75 percent to ₹130.69 crore.

This drop represents the steepest annual fall in such contributions for the party in a decade. In the preceding financial year, 2024-25, which coincided with the Lok Sabha elections, the party had reported ₹517.39 crore in similar contributions. A historical comparison over the last 12 financial years indicates that the last steeper drop occurred in 2015-16, when disclosed donations fell roughly 86 percent from ₹141.46 crore the previous year.

A significant factor in the latest decline was funding through electoral trusts. Prudent Electoral Trust, which was the only electoral trust listed in the party's latest contribution report, saw its contribution drop by about 88 percent—falling from ₹216.34 crore in 2024-25 to ₹25 crore in 2025-26. Other large corporate and individual contributors listed in the recent report included Star Cement with ₹5 crore, Sajjan Bhajanka with ₹4 crore, and Prem Kumar Bhajanka with ₹2 crore.

Despite the sharp year-on-year decrease, the 2025-26 collection was not the lowest over the 12-year review period. Disclosed donations were lower in several earlier years, including ₹74.52 crore in 2020-21, ₹95.46 crore in 2021-22, and ₹79.92 crore in 2022-23. However, when factoring in electoral bonds that were reported separately under the erstwhile scheme, the latest 2025-26 collection stands as the lowest since 2020-21.

In comparison, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received ₹6,074.02 crore in donations exceeding ₹20,000 during 2024-25, amounting to nearly 12 times the collections made by the Congress during the same period. The BJP's contribution report for 2025-26 has not yet been made public by the Election Commission. Historical data shows that the BJP collected more than the Congress in each of the 12 financial years examined.

Election Commission filings for donations above ₹20,000 do not represent a party's total income, as they exclude smaller donations, membership fees, coupon collections, and interest earnings. For instance, in 2024-25, coupon collections alone contributed ₹350.12 crore to the Congress. The party's complete financial standing for 2025-26 will require its audited accounts, which have not been uploaded yet.

"The sharp decline in disclosed donations highlights the cyclical nature of political funding, which is often closely tied to major election cycles like the Lok Sabha elections. Funding transparency and reliance on specific channels, such as electoral trusts, play a critical role in shaping the financial health of political organizations. Analyzing these regulatory filings provides essential insight into the broader macroeconomic trends influencing institutional funding in India." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes