New Delhi, Feb. 14: The Election Commission has convened a meeting tomorrow of all recognised political parties on the Union government’s proposal of state funding of elections.

Representatives of six national and 44 regional parties will give their opinion on what facilities they should get from the state for elections. Poll panel officials said the meeting was called after the Union cabinet on December 22 referred the proposal of state funding of elections to the commission.

The commission has recognised six national parties ? the Congress, the BJP, CPI, CPM, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. The officials said nearly all the state parties have confirmed their participation.

Among the facilities offered by the government are free accommodation for a party’s operational headquarters, a free telephone connection with STD facility and a certain amount of time on private cable television networks. The candidates of recognised parties will also be offered a specific quantity of petrol or diesel, printing paper and postage stamps. For Assembly polls, the proposal is to give them one set of loudspeakers and a telephone.

The move to state-fund elections is aimed at cleansing the political system by curtailing the use of money power in polls.