The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has approved a proposal seeking to strip the Election Commission (EC) of the power to organise polls.
CDC spokesman Gen Lertrat Rattanawanit said charter drafters have agreed the EC should assume a supervisory role and a new body should be set up separately to run polls.
Known as the Election Organising Committee (EOC), the body will comprise a group of seven state officials and one or two representatives from the civic sector, said Gen Lertrat.
The officials will be appointed by the national police chief and permanent secretaries from six ministries: the Defence Ministry, Interior Ministry, Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry, Public Health Ministry, Education Ministry and Transport Ministry.
Two representatives from the civic sector are likely to come from the proposed National People's Assembly.
Under the CDC's original proposal, the task of organising polls would be the responsibility of the Interior Ministry, Education Ministry and Public Health Ministry.
Several CDC members are opposed to allowing the Interior Ministry to organise elections out of concern it will lead the country back to the patronage system.
They want more ministries to be involved in the hope they will be able to better protect the system from political interference.
"If we hand the power to organise elections back to the Interior Ministry there will be problems at the next election. Everyone will blame the constitution and the CDC," one committee member said.
Gen Lertrat said the EC will keep most of its powers granted by the 2007 charter. These include the powers to investigate election fraud, order re-elections and supervise referendums.
The CDC spokesman said the EC will have more power so it can ensure efficient supervision. It will be able to transfer state officials suspected of election fraud as soon as a royal decree calling elections is in effect.
The commission will be authorised to order disciplinary investigations against officials and candidates suspected of poll fraud and its investigation reports can be used to take action against them, he said.
According to Gen Lertrat, the EC will be authorised to set election dates.
"What happened last year will not be repeated. The prime minister will have the power to dissolve the House, but it will be the EC that is empowered to set an election date," he said, referring to a row during the Feb 2 election last year.
The EC wanted the caretaker government to postpone the poll due to political unrest, but the Yingluck administration refused to do so and the election was declared void by the Constitution Court.