The Congress party recently disclosed to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that its leader Rahul Gandhi was allocated a total of ₹1.40 crore to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from two seats. Rahul Gandhi received ₹70 lakh each for contesting from Wayanad in Kerala and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. Despite winning in both constituencies, he chose to retain his seat in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, by-elections will be held in Wayanad, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra standing as the party’s candidate.
Rahul Gandhi, although a key campaigner for Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, was not the highest recipient of campaign funds within the party. Vikramaditya Singh, who contested from the Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh, was given ₹87 lakh, the highest allocation for any Congress candidate. Despite this financial backing, Singh lost the election to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate, actor-politician Kangana Ranaut. Other Congress leaders, including Kishori Lal Sharma, K. C. Venugopal, Manickam Tagore, Radhakrishna, and Vijay Inder Singla, each received ₹70 lakh to contest their respective seats.
The Congress party won 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and Rahul Gandhi was appointed as the Leader of Opposition in the lower house. Senior party leaders Anand Sharma and Digvijay Singh, who received ₹46 lakh and ₹50 lakh respectively, did not secure wins in their contests.
This comes in light of the government’s decision in January 2022, based on the Election Commission’s recommendation, to increase the election expenditure limit for candidates. The limit was raised to ₹95 lakh from ₹70 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and to ₹40 lakh from ₹28 lakh for assembly elections. For Lok Sabha polls, the revised expenditure limit now stands at ₹90 lakh for larger states and ₹75 lakh for smaller states.