PM Modi's 'Congress isn't contesting for majority in 2024 elections' remark is false

What is the claim?

On May 1, while addressing a public gathering at Banaskantha in Gujarat, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the Congress has not nominated even 272 candidates, the minimum number of seats required for a majority in the Lok Sabha, and yet wants to form the government at the center.

While addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'January Vishwas Sabha' (public trust meeting) in Banaskantha, PM Modi said, "You will be surprised that this time, the condition of Congress is such that MPs are required on 272 seats to form the government. Apart from us (BJP), no other political party, not even the Congress, is contesting on 272 seats. You are not even contesting elections on these seats and then want to form the government?" (PM Modi's remarks can be heard from the 32:22 timestamp to the 36:04 mark in the video.)

Several news media outlets, including PTI and ANI, published reports on this statement by Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi repeated the same claim the next day, May 2, 2024, in Jamnagar, Gujarat. It should be noted that there are 545 seats in the Lok Sabha and 272 seats are required for the majority. (His claim can be heard at the time stamp of 38:20-39:08 in this video)

However, this is false. We checked all the lists released by Congress and found that the party has nominated more than 320 candidates so far. The Congress party is also a part of the opposition 'INDIA' alliance, and the party is contesting elections together with other parties in many states.

How did we verify this?

We checked the official website of Congress and the list of candidates released for the Lok Sabha elections. Between March 8 and April 30, the grand old party announced the candidature of several leaders throughout the country. (We are considering candidates nominated only till April 30, as PM Modi made the remark in question first on May 1.) 

Till April 13, Congress had released 19 lists for candidates from various constituencies. So far, the total number of candidates nominated by the party was 275. This means that when PM Modi spoke about Congress candidates in his speech in Banaskantha, Gujarat, on May 1, the latter had already nominated more than 272 candidates for the required majority in the Lok Sabha.

The total number of candidates nominated by Congress till April 30 reached 329.

List of candidates announced by Congress until May 3, 2024 (Source: Congress official website)

Congress's national spokesperson Pawan Khera confirmed to Logically Facts that his party has announced 329 candidates till now, out of which, if the candidates from Surat and Indore were not counted, the number came down to 327. In Surat, Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination was canceled, while in Indore, Congress candidate Akshay Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP.

Pawan Khera also took to X (archive here) on May 2 to deny Modi's claims. The caption of the post read: "Congress party has so far declared candidates on 326 seats, but the Prime Minister is saying that if Congress is not contesting on 272 seats then how will it form the government….(translated from Hindi)."

Screenshot of Congress leader Pawan Khera’s X post. (Source: X/ Screenshot)

It is noteworthy that Congress is the largest party in the INDIA alliance and it is contesting elections in many states in partnership with other opposition parties.

Out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is contesting 17 seats, while candidates from the Samajwadi Party (SP) are contesting from the remaining 63 seats. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, out of which Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is fielding candidates from 26 seats, Congress from nine seats, and Left parties from the remaining five seats. Similarly, in states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Gujarat, the Congress party is contesting elections in alliance with other opposition parties.

In his speech, Modi also mentioned Bharuch and Bhavnagar in Gujarat and said that Congress doesn't have any candidates for these seats, and so the family of Ahmed Patel (late Congress leader) will not have candidates to vote for. Here, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has nominated its candidates for both these seats. AAP is a part of the INDIA alliance, and Congress has given these two seats to its alliance member party.

The verdict

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that no party other than the BJP, not even Congress, has nominated candidates from 272 seats- the minimum number of seats required for a majority in the Lok Sabha is false. Congress has so far released the names of over 320 candidates. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false. (

(Translated by Azra Ali)