Judges, both active and retired, make up the largest group nominated by Supreme Court judges to fill the Election Commission, according to a list of 42 candidates released yesterday.

The current and former judges total 16, Supreme Court secretary Wirat Chinwinitkul said.

Others include three former Election Commission officials, three caretaker senators and two university lecturers.

Five women also made the list. All applicants needed the concurrence of a Supreme Court judge to be nominated, he said.

Applications were closed at 4.30pm. A plenary meeting of 86 Supreme Court judges is scheduled for Thursday.

The judges will vote on 10 nominees whose names will be submitted to the Senate.

The Upper House will appoint five as election commissioners, subject to royal endorsement.

Wirat said the candidates were from a wide range of occupations and everyone stood a fair chance at next week's balloting.

"There won't be a bloc vote. And judges and former judges won't get preferential treatment," he said.

Thirty of the applicants have passed verification of their qualifications as required by the Constitution, Wirat said, adding it was possible some others might fail to meet the criteria.

In secret polling among the 86 Supreme Court judges, candidates will need to win more than half of the votes, or a minimum of 44, he said.

Well-known figures among the candidates are former Supreme Court judge Nam Yimyaem, who chaired a panel investigating allegations of election fraud against the Thai Rak Thai Party, former election commissioners Sawat Chotepanit and Thirayuth Kannasut, and outgoing senators Kaewsun Atibodhi and MR Gumloonthep Devakul.

Kaewsun and Gumloonthep resigned yesterday as senators to contest the vacant commission seats.

"I want to make it clear about my status that I'm not violating constitutional rules as an EC contender," Kaewsun said.

The law prohibits Parliament members from registering as EC candidates.

The Supreme Court was said to be getting ready to nominate Kaewsun as one of the finalists.

Kaewsun said he had intended to resign if he was picked for the final 10.

However, he believed some people were attempting to cause trouble by carefully scrutinising the candidates' qualifications.

It would be better to quit the Senate now to prevent any situation creating problems for him if he was picked as a new EC member, he said.

Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua insisted the new EC members would be selected by the end of this month, which would leave enough time for them to manage the October 15 election.

His speaker's legal team would help an ad-hoc panel to check candidates' backgrounds to speed up the process.

It would set up a mailbox for any complaints from the public about the candidates before passing them to the panel.

The selection of a new Election Commission began last week after the three remaining commissioners from the previous body - Vasana Puemlarp, Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien - were jailed for wrongful handling of the April 2 snap election.

One other commissioner had resigned after the election and the other one died last year.