OTTAWA - The Conservative party fundraising machine has gone into overdrive while New Democrats and Liberals seem to have stalled during the first quarter of an election year.

The latest financial reports filed with Elections Canada show the governing Conservatives raked in $6.3 million in the first three months of 2015 -- up almost $1.7 million over the same period last year.

The number of donors to the party also jumped by almost 10,000 to 41,161.

By comparison, the Liberals pulled in $3.9 million -- only slightly higher than the first quarter of 2014, while the number of donors dropped slightly to 34,508.

The NDP's haul actually dipped by $200,000 to $2.3 million, although the number of donors to the party increased by more than 6,000 to 28,060.

For more than a decade, the Conservatives have been the undisputed federal fundraising champions.