The top six national parties (BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, CPM and CPI) collected Rs. 1,159 crore in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections compared to Rs 224 crore in 2004 and Rs 855 crore in 2009.

According to the figures released by the Delhi-based Association of Democratic Reforms for the 2014 elections, the Modi wave alone cost the BJP Rs 460 crore in publicity, putting it on top of the spending list with Rs 712 crore for the 75-day election.

Modi had addressed 437 public meetings in 25 states in what BJP termed as their biggest political outreach programme in the 2014 elections. The total number of his public meetings stood at 5,827, which included 4,000 'Chai Pe Charcha' sessions. Congress came second with Rs 486.21 crore and the NCP with a kitty of Rs 64.48 crore was third. CPI declared the least amount of election expenditure, of Rs 6.72 crore.

The total cost for last three general elections (2004, 2009 and 2014) was Rs 2,237 crore. With a Rs 1,263.94-crore bill, the BJP topped the overall spending list for these three elections, followed by the Congress, which spent Rs 1,015.86 crore in the same period.

And what did these parties spend on? "During Lok Sabha elections in 2004, 2009 and 2014 together national parties spent 50.58 percent of their total expenditure on publicity, 19.68 percent on travel expenses and 15.43 per cent on candidates and 14.31 per cent on other expenses," the report said.

Travel was a key spending area for the parties. BJP's declared expenditure on travel (for leaders, workers and star campaigners) was Rs 159.15 crore while Congress spent Rs 129.50 crore on travel. BSP came a distant third with Rs 17.31 crore in travel expenses while NCP spent Rs 3.73 crore, CPM Rs 1.94 crore and CPI about Rs 0.17 crore.

BJP spent Rs 159.81 crore on candidates followed by Congress that declared a bill of Rs 96.70 crore for the 2014 polls.