Congress donations fall nearly 75% to Rs 130.69 crore

Congress reported Rs 130.69 crore in donations above Rs 20,000 for the 2025-26 financial year, a fall of nearly 75% from Rs 517.39 crore in 2024-25 and its steepest annual decline in a decade, according to an analysis of its Election Commission filings.

The latest total was below the previous year’s collection, which rose from Rs 281.48 crore in 2023-24. The 2024-25 financial year included the Lok Sabha election. The filings show that the 2025-26 decline was driven in substantial part by lower contributions from Prudent Electoral Trust, whose donations to Congress fell from Rs 216.34 crore to Rs 25 crore, a decrease of about 88%.

Prudent was the only electoral trust listed in Congress’s latest contribution report. Other large contributors named in the filing included Star Cement, which gave Rs 5 crore, Sajjan Bhajanka, who contributed Rs 4 crore, and Prem Kumar Bhajanka, who donated Rs 2 crore.

The sharp year-on-year fall does not mean the 2025-26 figure was the lowest in the period examined. Congress reported lower disclosed donations in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, at Rs 74.52 crore, Rs 95.46 crore and Rs 79.92 crore respectively. Those figures exclude electoral bonds, which...