The Election Commission on Wednesday said that the defence personnel posted away from their homes can cast their votes through one-way electronic transmission in the upcoming state polls.

"We have decided to allow the defence personnel and central para-military forces personnel to cast their votes through one-way electronic transmission system," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told reporters here before announcing the dates of the assembly polls in five states in 2017.

Zaidi also said that the EC had first experimented the initiative in Puducherry in August 2016.