Protesters urge authorities to speed up poll reforms

Thousands of activists rallied in Dhaka demanding authorities to update a disputed voters' list and reform the election commission.

Thousands of activists rallied in the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday demanding authorities update a disputed voters' list and reform the election commission ahead of next month's general polls.

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The demonstrators from an alliance of 14 parties took to the streets despite the election commission's promise to start updating a contentious roll of voters from Friday.

The protesters had planned to march into the election commission. But they were stopped blocks away by security forces manning barbed-wire barricades, an agency reporter said. No violence was immediately reported.

The 14-party alliance, headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, says the voter list contains duplicate and fake names, and that it favors the party of her archrival Khaleda Zia, also a former premier.