Analysing the election expenditure incurred by various national parties during the six-state assembly elections in 2008 throws up some interesting facts.

Political parties spent a whopping Rs 136.88 crore during the 2008 elections to Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has declared that the party did not spend any money on publicity, travel or ‘other expenses’ during the run-up to the assembly elections.

The Congress declared the maximum expenditure, a considerable Rs 102.56 crore.

The Nationalist Congress Party has not even bothered to submit its expenditure statement to the Election Commission.

The National Conference was the only regional party which submitted its expenditure statement to the EC.

As much as 93.43 per cent of the total funds received by the Congress during election period was by cash (Rs 81.92 crore) while 85.6 per cent of the total funds received by the BJP was by cash (Rs 14.44 crore).

The Bahujan Samaj Party received all 100 per cent of its fund of Rs 76.2 crore in cash.

As much as 58.29 per cent of the total expenditure of the Congress was made by cheque/DD (Rs 59.78 crore) while 98.74 per cent of the total expenditure of BJP was by cheque/DD (Rs 25.17 crore).