Public patience would begin to wear thin if the polls are put on hold for a longer period, she said referring to the 18-month timeline announced by the commission last week.

Hasina also had a go at the caretaker government, terming it 'undemocratic and unconstitutional'.

She made the observations in an interview with the BBC radio yesterday morning.

The AL chief accused the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government of denying the people the right to choose their 'own government'. She then sought to remind them that in the past no undemocratic government could last long.

The former prime minister criticised Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda for his remarks that the commission would need at least 18 months before declaring the election schedule. He said the time is required to prepare a flawless voter roll with photographs.

Hasina said she wonders why should it take one and a half years to make a voter roll and why they [EC] have not even started the work yet.

The poll chief at a press conference on Thursday announced the 18-month timeline and unveiled a set of electoral reforms.

Huda said the ban on indoor politics should be lifted soon to allow the commission to talk with the political parties about the electoral reforms.

The proposed reforms include among others making mandatory the registration of the political parties and not allowing anyone to contest from more than three constituencies.

Hasina said the reforms are needed to rid politics of corruption and free the electoral process of muscle power and black money.

"This government has done some pretty good job and we supported them," she said adding that reforms are necessary, but they should never be used as a pretext for delaying the polls.

The present caretaker government took over on January 12 and the previous day a state of emergency was declared after weeks of political unrest. Later, the national election scheduled for January 22 too was cancelled.

The administration has reconstituted the EC and the Anti-Corruption Commission while cracking down on graft suspects.

So far, the anti-graft drive has seen a number of political bigwigs and businessmen including Tarique Rahman, son of immediate prime minister Khaleda Zia.