The need to reduce the role of money and muscle power in elections, checking criminalisation of politics and to stop the malpractice of paid news was stressed at the first round of the All party meeting convened by the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi today. The leaders of the political parties also emphasised the need for strengthening the electoral system. While all parties were supportive of the use of the EVMs in elections, some of them felt the need to address concerns with regard to their functioning to make them more credible. Coming out of the meeting, the Congress spokesman Mr. Abhishek Singhvi said that all the parties have termed the practice of paid news as a scourge. Replying to a question on the opinion of the Congress on the functioning of EVMs, Mr. Singhvi said that his party fully supports the present system. Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP said, state funding in elections should be considered. He said his party is also of the opinion that the Lok Sabha and assembly elections should be held simultaneously. Mr. D. Raja of the CPI was of the view that only framing of charges against the candidates cannot be the basis for their disqualification. The regional party leaders will participate in the second round of the meeting. Chief Election Commissioner Mr. S.Y. Qureshi had recently said that the Election Commission will give priority to the issue of restricting the role of money power in elections which he said has become a major challenge. AIR correspondent Sarita Brara says that the Press Council of India conducted a study on the phenomena of paid news in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and has come out with a number of recommendations to stop the malpractice.