Bangladesh registers 80 mn voters for December election

Dhaka, Oct 14 (DPA) Bangladesh's military forces Tuesday handed over a list of more than 80 million voters with photographs to the Election Commission to be used in the country's stalled parliamentary polls scheduled for Dec 18.

Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda received the copy of the voters roll, prepared for the first time in Bangladesh under a donor supported scheme supervised by the armed forces.

The handing over ceremony of the electoral rolls took place at a time when one of the major political parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was holding talks with the country's military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed on electoral reforms and preparedness for the polls.

The other major party, the Awami League, is expected to hold a similar dialogue next week. The total number of voters in the latest roll with photographs stood at 81.01 million, down by 10.2 million from the previous roll.

Receiving the voters roll from an army officer, the chief election commissioner said his commission was now prepared for the general election.

'The election will take place on time,' said Huda.