For 2024 Polls, Congress Plans To Launch Crowdfunding Campaign: Sources

The Congress, facing a cash crunch ahead of next year's general elections, will soon kickstart a nationwide crowdfunding campaign, sources within the party have said.

Sources said that the party will launch the campaign after the assembly elections in five states next month. Polling will be held in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram in November, with results for all 5 states set to be declared on December 3.

The party has formed an alliance with 25 other parties to take on the BJP in next year's general elections. For the polls, Congress plans to seek funds from people across the country, including party workers.

The Congress has assets worth Rs 805.68 crore, according to a recent report by advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The Bharatiya Janata Party, in comparison, has Rs 6,046.81 crore.

Corporate donations too have steadily dried up for Congress in the last 7 years, while BJP has been consistently going up. In the last 7 years, the corporate donations declared by the BJP are at least three times more than the total donations of all other National Parties. In FY 2017-18, it was more than eighteen times that of all other national parties.

The move by Congress to seek public donations appears modelled on the lines of the Aam Aadmi Party which seeks contributions online. The party had gone down this route for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, after it ran out of funds to run some of its offices.

But the party could win only 52 of the 545 Lok Sabha seats in the ensuing general elections. The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, registered a thumping win securing 303 seats.