By Anis Ahmed DHAKA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Just days before Bangladesh votes in a landmark election, one major contender has warned against possible vote rigging and urged supporters to guard the polls, raising fear of protests and violence if she loses. Ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and another former PM, the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, are rated the top candidates in the Dec.29 parliamentary vote, with some giving Hasina an edge. The impoverished south Asian country of more than 140 million people has been ruled for almost two years by an army-backed interim government under a state of emergency. A stable civilian government could help Bangladesh attract much-needed investment and aid. But some analysts fear heated rhetoric could set the stage for violence whoever wins, given the nation's history of political turbulence. "A vested quarter is hatching conspiracy to get to power by manipulating the election results," Khaleda said late on Thursday, in an apparent reference to the Awami League and the government. "Guard the polling centres until you get the result sheets so that no one can change your mandate," she told supporters. "Sensing a tide of masses in favour of the BNP-led alliance across the country and fearing .... inevitable defeat in the election, they are also conspiring to kill me," she said to cheering supporters in Jamalpur, north of the capital Dhaka. Hasina, meanwhile, alleged the BNP and its staunch Islamic ally Jamaat-e-Islami were trying to create violence to thwart the election, fearing defeat. She warned against "intimidating the voters" in an effort to turn the tide in Khaleda's favour. An analyst for the international Eurasia Group has said there is a 70-percent chance Hasina will win. Many Bangladeshis say the vote will be close although Hasina may have a slight lead. Security officials seized live grenades and other explosives and detained seven Islamist militants over the past few days, reinforcing fear the militants could strike before the vote. Hasina and Khaleda both have said their lives are at risk. The rivals alternated as prime minister over 15 years until late 2006, and even if the vote and its aftermath see no major violence, whoever wins will face challenges in trying to reduce poverty, cut graft, and keep the army out of politics. Despite the worries over violence, the government and international monitors say so far conditions for a free and credible election are good, with tight security and tough electoral rules in place for the 81 million registered voters. "At this moment, we see some incidents by the extremists but those are isolated," Damaso Magbual, head of the Asian Network for Free Elections, told Reuters on Friday. The government's "Election Commission gets a high degree of credibility ... very important to an acceptable election." (For related stories click on [nSP347930]) (With additional reporting by Ruma Paul and Masud Karim; Editing by Jerry Norton and Valerie Lee)
A health worker catches poultry for culling at Budhia village, about 345 km (214 miles) north of the eastern Indian city of Kolkata December 20, 2008. India sealed part of its ...
