India hopes for free and fair polls in Bangladesh

New Delhi -- Concerned over the spiralling violence and instability in Bangladesh, India Sunday hoped for free and fair elections the neighbouring country.

"The government of India is closely watching developments in Bangladesh. As a friendly neighbour, we are naturally interested in Bangladesh remaining peaceful and stable," external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

The violence came as Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party- led coalition government prepared to hand power to an interim administration that will oversee elections within 90 days.

The government's term expired midnight Friday but it has 15 days to transfer authority.

"It is our hope that the people of Bangladesh will be allowed to exercise their right to choose their own government in a free and fair manner in the forthcoming elections in accordance with their constitution," the spokesperson said in a statement.

While Prime Minister Khaleda Zia completed her five-year rule Friday, political parties have failed to agree on who should head a caretaker government that would govern the country and conduct elections in January.

The opposition Awami League had earlier vowed to paralyse the country with protests if the government installed former Supreme Court justice K.M. Hasan as the head of the interim administration.

The opposition accused him of bias and said fair polls would be impossible with him in charge. Hasan held a senior BNP appointment in the late 1970s.

The impasse has led to violence in Dhaka and several other places in Bangladesh claiming at least 12 lives since Friday.

Meanwhile, India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon discussed the Bangladesh situation with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on his way back from Bhutan Saturday.