The figures submitted to the Election Commission also reveal a sharp contraction in funding from Prudent Electoral Trust, previously the party’s largest contributor through the electoral trust system. Prudent donated Rs 25 crore in 2025-26, compared with approximately Rs 216 crore in 2024-25.

Its share of the Congress’s declared contributions consequently fell to about 19%, against 41.8% a year earlier. The trust accounted for roughly Rs 191 crore of the overall Rs 386.7 crore reduction in donations above the statutory reporting threshold.

The decline places the Congress’s disclosed contributions at their lowest level in three financial years. The party had reported approximately Rs 281.5 crore in such donations during 2023-24, meaning the latest figure is also about 53% below that earlier total.

The comparison is significant because contributions rose sharply in 2024-25, the financial year encompassing the 2024 Lok Sabha election. That year’s reported receipts were about 84% higher than in 2023-24. The subsequent fall therefore reflects both the unusually high preceding base and a substantial reduction below the earlier level.

Prudent was the only electoral trust identified as routing contributions to the Congress in the 2025-26 disclosure. Electoral trusts collect donations, primarily from companies, and distribute them to political parties under a regulated framework. Their reported disbursements offer one measure of institutional political funding, although they do not capture every source of party income. The disclosure also does not establish how much the trust collected from its corporate donors during 2025-26 or their identities.

The Congress’s filings identify several other sizeable contributors. Star Cement Ltd donated Rs 5 crore, while Sajjan Bhajanka contributed Rs 4 crore. Afnan Constructions gave Rs 3 crore and Prem Kumar Bhajanka Rs 2 crore. IPSUM Proadvisors and SMS Builders each contributed Rs 1 crore.

Large payments represented a substantial share of the reported total. Nine contributions of at least Rs 1 crore amounted to Rs 43 crore, approximately one-third of all donations declared above Rs 20,000. The figures underline the importance of a relatively small group of donors within the party’s disclosed receipts.

At the other end of the distribution, 1,321 contributions of Rs 5 lakh or less added up to Rs 37.2 crore, or about 28.5% of the total. Across 1,735 contribution entries, the median donation was Rs 3 lakh, substantially below the average, reflecting the influence of larger payments on the aggregate.

The report covers individual contributions exceeding Rs 20,000 and should not be treated as a comprehensive statement of the party’s finances. Political parties also receive money through other permitted channels, and their annual audited accounts provide a wider picture of income and expenditure.

The Congress’s audited financial statement for 2025-26 was not available alongside the contribution figures. Consequently, the reported reduction cannot by itself establish an equivalent decline in the party’s overall income, cash resources or election expenditure during the financial year.

For comparison, the party’s 2024-25 accounts included more than Rs 350 crore collected through the issue and sale of coupons. Such receipts are distinct from the donations listed in the contribution report, making it necessary to distinguish the narrower disclosure from total funding.

The lower declared donations came during a financial year that included the Bihar assembly election and preparations for assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry in April 2026. The figures do not explain whether donor preferences, election cycles or other factors drove the reduction.

Annual contribution statements are intended to disclose the identity and amounts of donors whose individual payments exceed Rs 20,000. The threshold means smaller donations do not necessarily appear in the published list, while the number of entries need not equal the number of distinct contributors.

Earlier figures compiled from party disclosures showed Prudent had supplied approximately Rs 216.3 crore to the Congress in 2024-25. The corresponding share of 41.8% made it a particularly important source of the party’s declared contributions that year.

The latest filing records Rs 25 crore from the same trust, equivalent to roughly 11.5% of its previous contribution to the party. The remaining listed donations were received from companies and individual contributors outside the electoral trust route.