NEW DELHI: Despite facing funding challenges, the Congress spent Rs 820 crore in its campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the simultaneous assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim, the latest data submitted with the Election Commission show.The Grand Old Party had spent Rs 516 crore in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections while the BJP had pumped in Rs 714 crore.BJP is yet to submit its Lok Sabha expense statement to EC and is expected to outdo the Congress as has been the trend since 2013. The latest records show that the Congress’ headquarters raised Rs 856 crore ahead of the Lok Sabha polls across the poll-bound states.It spent Rs 626 cr on publicity and Rs 194 crore on its candidates. In toto, the party spent Rs 8,20,89,33,152 in Lok Sabha and the assembly elections held alongside, as per EC records. The Congress had reported raising only Rs 126 crore funds in 2018-19, indicating a big infusion of funding into the party ahead of Lok Sabha poll.The party also spent Rs 356 crore on media advertisementsand digital campaigns through its central and state units. Congress candidates were given funds ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 60 lakh each. The then party president, Rahul Gandhi , and president Sonia Gandhi took in Rs 50 lakh each for campaigning.Over Rs 40 cr was spent by the Congress in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, Rs 36 cr in Uttar Pradesh , Rs 18 cr in Maharashtra and Rs 17 crore in Karnataka and Gujarat. Near Rs 15 crore were pumped into the West Bengal campaign and another Rs 13 crore in Kerala where Rahul Gandhi was contesting.Over Rs 40 crore was spent on air travel of Rahul Gandhi. A total of Rs 86 crore was spent on air travel of various candidates and star campaigners.The political digital campaign firm, Designboxed, which has offices in Surat, Mohali and Amritsar, was the key campaign manager for the Congress. It was paid over Rs 12 cr for digital and social media advertising. Bharti Airtel group handled the bulk sms services.Among other firms that manged Congress’ publicity campaign were Y G Research Pvt Ltd, Hindustan Thompson, Google India which ran website ads worth Rs 77 lakh, , Vikalp Outsourcing which provided call centre services, Fleet ads ran congress ads on trucks and containers and Niksun Ad world managed regional campaigns while EG communications Ltd and Times Innovative Media ltd managed the New Delhi campaign adverts on the Delhi metro and Delhi airport respectively.The highest media spending is reported in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka units of the Congress which put in Rs 24 crore and Rs 17.3 crores respectively.While BJP is yet to submit details, several national and state parties have done so.For the Lok Sabha polls, CPI(M) spent Rs 6.4 crore, Trinamool Congress spent Rs 10 crore, CPI registers a 16 crore election expense. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party yet again has submitted that it did not spend at all on Lok Sabha polls.Among state parties that have submitted expense records, Sharad Pawar’s NCP reports Rs 11.7 crore spent, JD(S) put in Rs 4.5 crore while JD(U) put in Rs 6.64 crore. Samjawadi party states a spending of Rs 5.5 crore while Shiv Sena has submitted a statement of Rs 6.5 crore spent.The complete extent of Lok Sabha election spending, however, will only be gauged fully once the ruling BJP submits its statement.The funding gap between the BJP and the Congress has widened hugely since 2013. The Congress, however, has been making a comeback of sort since 2018 when it improved its fund collection and also ramped up election spending in 2018 assembly elections.