Navin Chawla, the chief election commissioner (CEC), has called for more powers for the election commission to regulate political parties.
"The EC should be given power to de?register political parties, especially those which do not even contest elections," Chawla was quoted as saying at the sixth national conference on electoral and political reforms, organized over April 10-11 by Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch in Bhopal.
“Chawla also expressed deep concern over increasing instances of paid news which needed to be addressed urgently,” a statement from ADR said.

The conference saw several leaders of both Congress and BJP expressing concern over inadequate regulation of political parties, criminalization of politics, and instances of bribing the Media to influence political outcomes.
Vinay Sahasrbuddhe, a Member of BJP executive council, said that political parties should also be subject to some regulation and be asked to furnish annual reports of their activities and accounts.  He also favoured politicians undergoing professional training to become effective legislators.  
KK Mishra, Congress spokesperson from Madhya Pradesh, expressed concern over growing role of money power and criminals in elections.

Manickam Tagore, a Congress MP, said political parties must become more open and democratic.
“All political parties remain closed for new entrants, unless they have some connections. This closed nature of the parties needs to be changed and the gates should be opened to meritorious youth,” he said.
Anil Madhav Dave, a BJP MP, colled for simultaneously holding assembly and Lok Sabha elections in order to minimize public expenditure and holidays.

The conference also discussed the role of media in elections and the danger of the phenomenon of “paid news” in election campaigns.
Kirit Somaiya, BJP’s national secretary, said, “Paid news is a menace on which action should be quickly taken so that the spirit of democracy is kept alive”.
The CEC released ‘Lok Sabha 2009 Election Watch: A compendium of state election watch reports’, a book containing analysis on criminal and financial details of candidates and winners of Lok Sabha 2009 elections for all states and UTs of India.
The conference, attended also by senior bureaucrats, journalists, and representatives of NGOs and companies, concluded with resolutions demanding criminal candidates be prohibited from standing in elections, an option for 'none of the above' on voting machines, and political party reforms.