For the first time, the CEC also hinted that there is a possibility of the voter list being ready by August or September next year. The CEC and two other election commissioners earlier repeatedly claimed that it is not possible to complete the task in less than 18 months as it is the required minimum time.

Meanwhile the Election Commission (EC) yesterday at a meeting finalised a schedule to expedite the process of preparing the voter list, cancelling all holidays for the consultants and other officials who will prepare the project proposal. It also formed a high-powered national steering committee headed by the CEC to oversee the task of preparing the electoral roll.

The CEC said the 18-month timeframe announced by him on April 5 began yesterday and the EC is determined to hold the parliamentary election as per the timeframe declared by the chief adviser recently.

The 18-month timeframe will end on October 30 next year while the chief adviser announced that the parliamentary election will be held by the end of 2008.

"During the preparation of the voter list, we will start other preparatory works for the polls. So that we can hold the ninth parliamentary election within the timeframe announced by the chief adviser," the CEC told reporters emerging from the meeting with the consultants.

"The parliamentary election will be held earlier if the voter list is prepared before the expiration of the 18-month timeframe," he asserted.

At the meeting the EC asked the consultants to come up with a list of required equipment needed for the job within two weeks so that the commission can start the process of procuring those.

It also asked them to prepare a proposal within three weeks for launching pilot projects in both urban and rural areas to study the feasibility of the project for the voter list and national identity cards.

Besides, they must have the proposal ready within the next two months specifying the methodology for preparing the voter list, the CEC said. "In the project document, the consultants will specify whether the voter list will be prepared through door to door visits or by setting up registration camps," he said.

"From now on, the consultants will work round the clock, they will have no public or weekly holiday," Huda said.

According to the EC's initial plan, the project proposal for the voter list was supposed to be prepared within two months and procurement of required equipment, like cameras and laptop computers, was supposed to be completed within the following four months. An additional 12 months were allocated for implementing the project.

But the EC now has a plan to start the process of purchasing the equipment while the project proposal is being prepared, sources said.

CEC Huda said their top priority is to prepare the voter list with photographs, not the national identity cards. "There is no link between the election and the national identity cards," he said. National identity cards will be a by-product of the voter list project, he added.

The CEC said preparing voter lists of metropolitan cities might be given priority. "We will consider whether it is possible to hold city corporation elections before the parliamentary election if voter lists for the cities are prepared earlier," he said.

He also said a national steering committee was formed to oversee the task of preparing the voter list. The two election commissioners Sahul Hossain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, secretaries to the EC Secretariat and home ministry, director general of the Bureau of Statistics, and UNDPs local chief were made the members of the committee.

The CEC said four consultants including two from abroad already joined the EC and another will join later.

About the ongoing controversy over student politics, the CEC said the EC will examine the laws whether it is possible to de-link student politics from political parties, short of banning it altogether.