Congress Disclosed Donations Fall Nearly 75% in 2025-26
Receipts from donations exceeding 20000 rupees (Rs 20,000) disclosed by the Indian National Congress fell nearly 75% to 130.69 crore rupees in the 2025-26 fiscal year. According to contribution reports filed with the Election Commission of India, the drop marks the steepest annual decline in large disclosed political contributions to the party in a decade. The principal opposition party had previously collected 517.39 crore rupees in qualifying contributions during the 2024-25 fiscal period, the year Lok Sabha national elections were held. The latest decrease follows two consecutive fiscal cycles of rising political contributions across national headquarters and regional election operations. Before the election spike, Congress had received 281.48 crore rupees in declared contributions during the 2023-24 financial cycle.
Decade-Low Drop and Electoral Trust Dynamics
A historical review spanning 12 financial years reveals that the last sharper annual drop occurred in the 2015-16 fiscal year. During that 2015-16 cycle, party receipts tumbled roughly 86% from 141.46 crore rupees recorded in the preceding 12-month period. The downturn in 2025-26 was driven heavily by reduced corporate funding disbursed through the Prudent Electoral Trust. Contributions from Prudent Electoral Trust plunged from 216.34 crore rupees in 2024-25 to 25 crore rupees in 2025-26, registering an 88% contraction. Filings confirm that Prudent was the sole registered corporate electoral trust appearing in the party's official submission for the financial year.
Corporate Contributors and Multi-Year Trends
Other corporate donors included cement manufacturer Star Cement, which provided 5 crore rupees to party coffers. Individual business donors listed in disclosure filings included industrialist Sajjan Bhajanka who contributed 4 crore rupees, and Prem Kumar Bhajanka who gave 2 crore rupees. Party collection records demonstrate that the 130.69 crore rupees total nonetheless surpassed annual funds collected across several non-election cycles. During earlier financial cycles, Congress recorded 74.52 crore rupees in 2020-21, 95.46 crore rupees in 2021-22, and 79.92 crore rupees in 2022-23. By comparison, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received 6074.02 crore rupees in large donations during 2024-25.
Comparative Party Financing and Regulatory Records
The ruling party's collection in 2024-25 amounted to nearly 12 times the total donations assembled by Congress over that same national election year. Financial disclosures for the BJP for the 2025-26 financial cycle have not yet been released publicly by the Election Commission. Commission archives establish that the BJP assembled larger disclosed donations than Congress in each of the 12 financial years examined. In 2024-25, coupon collections alone brought the party 350.12 crore rupees, surpassing its donations above 20000 rupees in many earlier years. The sharp contraction highlights shifting corporate donation patterns following the transition beyond high-spending general parliamentary elections. Prudent Electoral Trust contributed 19% of Congress's total donation kitty in its 2025-26 contribution report filed with the Election Commission, according to The Times of India.