The 2019 Lok Sabha result was a second consecutive heavy defeat for the Congress, and within weeks there were reports that the party was short of money as well as seats.

What was reported

In July 2019, reports citing party sources said the Congress had asked several of its organisations to cut spending. The monthly budget of the Congress Seva Dal was said to have been reduced from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, and the women’s wing, the student wing NSUI and the Youth Congress were asked to find savings. Staff at the party’s Delhi headquarters were reported to have gone unpaid for some months, and the social media team, which had 55 members during the campaign, was down to about 35 after resignations that followed the results on 23 May. The party was also said to be weighing whether to keep its data analytics department.

The result behind it

The Congress won 52 of the 542 seats contested in 2019 (polling in Vellore was countermanded and held later), up only slightly from 44 in 2014 and again short of the one-tenth of the House needed to claim the post of Leader of the Opposition. The BJP won 303.

What happened next

Rahul Gandhi resigned as party president, making his resignation letter public on 3 July 2019, and Sonia Gandhi returned as interim president in August 2019. The party remained in opposition after the 2024 election, in which it won 99 seats.

See also: the Congress party page and the current Lok Sabha.

Originally published on 13 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026, with the background and what happened next added.

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