Bangladesh poll officials resign

It is still not clear when the vote will take place

All five election commissioners in Bangladesh have resigned as part of moves to reorganise overdue elections.

Officials said the commissioners met President Iajuddin Ahmed in Dhaka and handed him their resignation letters.

Their departures follow that of controversial chief election official MA Aziz earlier this month.

The commissioners were at the centre of a row over alleged vote-rigging. On Tuesday, a court ruled that the vote could not be held for three months.

New commissioners

The Awami League and its allies - one of the country's major political groupings - demanded the resignation of the election commissioners whom they accused of favouring a rival political bloc led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The Awami League and allies had held weeks of protests to demand the resignation of the election commissioners, which culminated in President Ahmed declaring a state of emergency earlier this month.

The interim government - which assumed power from the BNP in October to oversee the vote - says it will reorganise the election commission by appointing three new commissioners soon.

On Tuesday the High Court ordered the Election Commission to suspend all poll-related activities until the voter registration process had been completely overhauled.

The ruling came after a petition was filed in court arguing that the electoral roll was faulty.

The court also asked the Election Commission to explain why voter lists had not been updated in time for the scheduled January polls.