Several Political parties have advocated the need for declaring paid news as a poll malpractice. Participating in a seminar on the issue in New Delhi today the CPIM General Secretary Prakash Karat said that a major hurdle in stopping this pratice was that there is no record of the money exchanged in the deal. He felt that those who paid money too should be held accountable. Supporting him, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said since the Election Commission is not adequately empowered to deal with the issue, a bill should be introduced in Parliament to amend the Act. The Model Code of Conduct does not cover the issue of malpractice. She said that the phenomenon has become institutionalised over the years. She said her party was even ready to name publications which approached BJP for publishing news during elections. The Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said he would discuss the issue at party level and take it up with the Government.<br/><br/>Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said said that no party has lodged a formal complaint. He said that while the Commission will augment its machinery to tackle the problem,self-regulation by media is also required. <br/><br/>Prasar Bharati Chairman Mrinal Pande was of the opinion that editors alone cannot be held responsible for what is appearing in newspapers as they cannot check each and every edition published from different places.