'Polls open in Bangladesh election'

Polls opened in Bangladesh Monday in the first elections since 2001, an official said.

Polls opened in Bangladesh Monday in the first elections since 2001, an official said.

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Election commission secretary Humayun Kabir said thousands of people had lined up outside polling booths in thick fog, hours before they opened.

"Voting has begun at more than 35,000 polling centres across the country at 8am (0200 GMT)," he said.

Some 81 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the election, which will end two years of rule by an army-backed regime.