Smaller parties should be made to ally with national parties ahead of polls as their growth is affecting good governance at the Centre, Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy said in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
"When candidates get elected from smaller parties at the time of government formation, these parties dictate terms in extending support," he said during a lecture on 'Problems and Prospects of Electoral Reforms'.
With several parties with "limited interests" being formed at the regional level, there should be some kind of regulation with regard to them, he said.
Krishnamurthy said as many as 600 parties were registered with the Election Commission out of which only six were present at the national level.
He stressed on the need to change the existing political system and sought cooperation from all parties and state governments.
"We should have a system where we can elect fixed number of candidates from a party," the CEC said.
The EC had recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations in its efforts to globalise and assist other countries in the spread of democracy, he added.
To improve the quality of the electoral process, the EC recently gave around 22 suggestions to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.
He also said that most parties were guilty of violating the model code of conduct. "Political parties should comply with the election code of conduct in letter and spirit."
Krishnamurthy said candidates charge sheeted in criminal cases six months ahead of polls should not be allowed to contest.
"At least 100 members in the present Parliament have criminal records," the CEC added.