Ahmedabad, May 10: Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy today underscored the need for enactment of a comprehensive law to deal with the functioning of political parties and bringing about more transparency and accountability. ''Such a law is necessary in order to compel the political parties to explain the source of their fundings, the kinds of expenditure that they incur and to hold them accountable for their activities,'' Krishnamurthy said, inaugurating a two-day national workshop on electoral reforms and right to information hosted by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a voluntary organisation here.

The workshop has been organised against the backdrop of the Supreme Court judgement of March 13 which enables voters to obtain information on the financial background of a candidates contesting the elections as well the existence of any criminal record. The current laws and guidelines have certain loopholes which do not permit the holding of absolutely fair and transparent elections, Krishnamurthy said.