A section of the foreign observers yesterday said the polls were by and large held in a free and fair manner, but lamented the boycott of the major opposition BNP and the incidents of electoral violence.

The Election Commission has decided to invite election management bodies from 42 countries to observe the upcoming parliamentary polls.

The EC gives great importance to the observation of the election process for the sake of transparency, it said today in a notice

It is quite intriguing as to why the EC felt it necessary to hold a meeting with an organisation that does not have a clean history of poll monitoring.