The debate began when Agriculture Minister MK Anwar on a point of order said the opposition's allegations against the chief election commissioner (CEC) and the EC are totally 'untrue' and 'baseless'.

On the complaint that the commission is already making a list of polling centres for the benefit of the ruling alliance, he said the EC is preparing only a list of possible polling centres and it is not final yet.

Protesting the statement, AL lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta said the EC is not under the agriculture ministry and so Anwar has no right to make a statement in this regard. He alleged that the minister has violated the rules of procedure and the constitution by his statement.

"The agriculture minister has no jurisdiction to reply on behalf of the Election Commission when the state minister for law is present in the House," he added.

MK Anwar said, "The Election Commission has asked its officials to collect only the names of possible polling centres."

He argued that for the 2001 election, the then commission had ordered a list of possible polling centres to be prepared four months before handover of power to the caretaker government, whereas the current commission asked for the same on August 23, only two months before power transfer.

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed was absent during the debate.