The demand came as parties held a second round of talks with the commission to discuss preparations for parliamentary polls the army-backed interim government pledged to hold around the end of this year.

"Islamic parties cannot be banned or barred from contesting elections because there is no such provision in the constitution," commissioner Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier-general, told reporters.

He made the comment late on Wednesday after the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party held talks with commission officials and strongly opposed any move to ban Islamic parties.

Nearly 90 percent of Bangladesh's more than 140 million people are Muslims.


Agencies