Bangladesh finishes pilot project to cut vote-fraud

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's army-backed authorities successfully completed a pilot project on Saturday that gives thousands of voters a registration card with a photograph to cut fraud, officials said.

A general election scheduled for January was postponed due to political violence amid accusations of vote-rigging and corruption by the two main parties.

A state of emergency was subsequently imposed by the interim authority and all political activity banned. A re-run of the poll is expected by the end of 2008.

Officials and troops took 20 days to photograph and fingerprint over 40,000 eligible voters at the project area at Sreepur, 70 km north of the capital Dhaka.