New Delhi: Eveyone is aware of the fact that Congress party has outrun every competitor to the winner's post in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, but vet few people knows that the same party has also outstripped all other parties in the spending stakes.

Sonia Gandhi led Congress party invested Rs.380 crore, a three-fold jump from 2004, for the elections that returned the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to power. Its rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is among at least 19 political parties with representatives in the Lok Sabha to have not yet filed their expenditure statements with the election commission (EC).

Talking to DNA, SK Mendiratta, Legal Counsel, Election Commission of India said, "The EC has issued the parties - warning letters and given them a last chance to file their expenditure statements." It was mandatory for all the political parties to file the details of expenses incurred by them within three months of the general elections, according to a timeline set by the EC. Al these details are found after DNA filed an RTI application to know the amount of money spent in election by all the parties.