Dhaka  - Bangladesh's Awami League-led alliance of former premier Sheikh Hasina Wazed is leading the country's general elections on Monday, according to preliminary results coming in from across the country.

Early results from dozens out of 299 parliamentary constituencies reaching the Election Commission shows the Awami League and its allies ahead of prime rival the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance of Khaleda Zia.

A private television channel reported Hasina won by a big margin at her Gopalganj-3 constituency.

Dhaka, Dec 29 : Ninth Parliamentary Elections came to an after Bangladeshis voted today overwhelmingly to elect the ninth Parliament of the country after two years of the emergency rule.

Over 80 percent voters exercised their franchise in the election.

According to Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, approximately 50 percent votes had been cast till 2pm when he visited poling centres in Dhaka.

"I''m happy over the pace of vote casting and so far the polling across the country is peaceful," he added.

Dhaka - Enthusiastic Bangladeshis cast their vote in a festive mode in a landmark election geared at restoring a democratic system in the South Asian nation after a two years under a military- backed administration.

Barring a few exceptions, the balloting was generally peaceful across the country, ATM Shamsul Huda, head of Bangladesh's Election Commission, said after visiting a number of polling stations in and around the capital Dhaka.

He said he expected voter turnout to be above 75 per cent.

Dhaka - Voting in Bangladesh's landmark elections began Monday in a festive mode to bring the country back to a democratic system after almost two years of emergency rule.

Enthusiastic people were seen waiting on long queue at polling stations from daybreak to cast their vote as balloting began at 8 am amid tight security.

The voting will continue until 5 pm, election officials said.

Dhaka, Dec 29: Polling for parliamentary election in Bangladesh began this morning amid tight security.

The voting started at 8.00 a. m. and the counting will begin manually after the end of the polling in 35,263 polling stations across the country.

A total of 1,552 candidates are contesting the polls and more than 81 million people are eligible to cast their ballots.

It is widely expected that there will be a tough fight between the Awami League led 14-party Grand alliance and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led 4-party alliance.

Dhaka  - The head of Bangladesh's army-backed interim administration Sunday urged political parties to accept Monday's election results gracefully in order to facilitate a smooth transition to democracy.

"It is the expectation of all that you will be co-workers shunning the path of hatred and vengeance," chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed said in a television address.

The parliamentary election is intended to return the country to democracy after nearly two years of rule by a military-backed interim government, which suspended civil and political rights after it was installed in January 2007 the wake of political turmoil.