New Delhi, March 18 - The Election Commission (EC) has written to the prime minister withdrawing its proposal for creating an autonomous society for the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), an official said Sunday.

In a letter written by Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi dated March 2, 2012, the EC said there is no additional benefit in creating an autonomous society for the IIIDEM.

"The commission has considered there is no additional benefit, rather there is the potential for operational constraints for the fledgling institute if it is made into a society," wrote Quraishi.

"As such the commission has decided to request the government to treat the commission's proposal for creation of an autonomous society for IIIDEM as withdrawn," he added.

The IIIDEM was launched in June, 2011 and has hosted 25 courses for about 500 election officials and other stakeholders in all aspects of election management, including security, logistics and legal aspects.

Another 20 courses are coming up in the next few months in preparation for the forthcoming series of general elections, said the EC.

Besides the national training programmes, IIIDEM has also conducted three courses for Kenyan, Bhutanese election officials and Nigerian election commissioners.

While a course for election officials from the Maldives is being held later this month, there are requests for such courses from Nepal, Afghanistan and Fiji, the EC added.