The Election Commission of India is hosting this year's conference, after the first one in Bangladesh in 2010 and the second in Pakistan in 2011 where the idea of setting up such a forum was approved in principle.
The three-day conference from April 30 to May 2 will give a final shape to their forum.
The conference will be inaugurated by India's Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi where CEC's of Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan would also be present.
The conference would also see discussions on empowerment of election management bodies, inclusive elections (gender issues, marginalized sections, minorities etc), voters education, controlling money power in elections and technology for cost-effective elections.
Coinciding with SAARC heads' conference, the foundation stone of a new campus of India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) will also be laid by Quraishi at Dwarka in New Delhi in the presence of heads of election management bodies of SAARC countries, said EC's Director General Akshay Raut.
Among those to attend the conference are chairman of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh C Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal Neel Kantha Upreti, Commissioner, Election Commission of Maldives Ibrahim Waheed, Member of Election Commission of Pakistan Justice (Retd) Muhammad R Essani, and Commissioner of Elections in Sri Lanka Mahinda Deshapriya.
Giving details of the IIDEM centre in Dwarka, Raut said funds to the tune of Rs 48 crore have been approved for 2011 -12 and 2012-13 for construction of the new campus.
Since its launch in June 2011, IIIDEM has hosted 32 courses for more than 500 election officials and other stakeholders in all aspects of election management, he said, adding training courses are already lined up at IIIDEM in the coming weeks for the upcoming summary revision and general elections in some states. PTI SKC