New members who joined the SNP following the independence referendum look set to get a say in selecting Westminster candidates.
Party leaders have recommended changing the rules at the instigation of transport secretary Keith Brown, a candidate in the deputy party leader contest.
At present the rules say that members must be in the party for a year before they can take part in the selection process.
The national executive wants to suspend the rule for the forthcoming general election and the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.
It has put forward a motion that will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the SNP’s national council immediately prior to the party conference in Perth next month.
Mr Brown, the Scottish Transport Minister, said the move showed the SNP was “open, welcoming and adaptable”.
“Somewhere approaching 60,000 members have joined the SNP since the referendum and each of them joined on the same basis as I did – we want independence and we want to make Scotland a better place,” he said.
“I get to vote to choose our candidates and I couldn’t see any reason why new members shouldn’t have that right.
“That’s why I wrote to the party’s convener, Derek Mackay, to ask for the rules to be relaxed to allow all of the new members a say in choosing candidates.”
He added: “What kind of a welcome to the party would it have been for those members if the first thing they were told was that they wouldn’t be allowed a say in who our candidates for Westminster are?
“I know that some people disagreed with me but I’m pleased to see that the national executive committee sees it my way.”