[India News]: New Delhi, Feb 22 : India will host a three-day conference of chief election officers from 37 Commonwealth countries from February 24 to discuss way of improving management of polls.

Being organised by the Election Commission here alongwith the Commonwealth Secretariat, the conference will be inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy and head of the Commonwealth Secretary General's office Amitav Banerji will address the conclave.

Based on the theme "Improving the Quality of Election Management", the conference will focus on three areas--the role and nature of the election management body, the use of technology and the relationship between election managers and political parties, an official spokesman said today.

He said the Commonwealth Secretariat has organised seven such conferences in the last 12 years with a view to promoting the best practise in election management. The last such meeting was held in the U K in 1998.

The countries participating in the eighth meeting of the Commonwealth Chief Election officers are Britain, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Africa, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St.Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Island, Swazliand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. PTI