DHAKA: Bangladesh's High Court has ordered the electoral roll be scrapped after a January election was postponed amid complaints the voters' list was stacked with fake entries.

The US-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs has said 12.2 million names were included on the original list either by mistake or in duplication. Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League said the now-scrapped list had 14 million “ghost” names on it.

Bangladesh is now being run by an army-backed interim government headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed. He has said a new election schedule will only be announced once critical electoral reforms, including a new voters' list, are in place.

A newly appointed Election Commission has decided to affix photographs of the voters besides their names on the new list to try to avoid rigging and other irregularities in the election.—Reuters