BANGKOK, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Election Commission (EC) will meet Monday to consider whether to delay next Sunday's national election, the commission's chairman has said.

    The proposal to postpone the April 2 snap election has been put forward by a group of 17 senators, EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp was quoted by Thai News Agency as saying Sunday.

    Police General Vasana said whatever the outcome of the commission's deliberations, only the cabinet had the power to order an election delay.

    Earlier in the day, he said there was no reason to postpone the poll and the election would go forward as planned.

    The remarks were made after the first day of advance voting Saturday.

    Eligible voters across Thailand who have registered for advance balloting can cast ballots in their respective constituencies on March 25-26.

    A total of 474,590 people cast their ballots on Saturday, according to an EC statement.

    The highest turnout was in the capital with 98,549 voters casting votes, followed by the adjacent province of Samut Prakan with 35,596 and the central Chonburi province with 28,044.

    More than 20,000 voters in the violence-plagued southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat also exercised their right in advance voting.

    Vasana said no problem had been reported during the voting but declined to comment on the relatively low overall turnout. He said it would not affect the election schedule. Enditem