Several National and regional parties today stressed the need to make the Electronic Voting Machines more credible. The need to reduce the role of money and muscle power in elections, checking criminalisation of politics and curbing the menace of paid news were also stressed during the two rounds of meetings of national and state parties convened by the Chief Elecetion Commission Mr S Y Quraishi. Suggestions were also made for state funding of the elections.Some parties wanted the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections to be held simultaneously. Most of the parties supported the use of EVMs but they wanted election commission to take note of doubts that are being raised and address the concerns.AIR correspondent 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.