New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- Bangladesh is holding its crucial parliamentary elections today, 18 months after an interim government took charge following the collapse of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year-old regime in widespread nationwide protests.

The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements, deploying nearly one million security personnel - the largest-ever in the country's electoral history. The 13th Parliamentary elections are being held simultaneously along with a referendum on a complex 84-point reform package.

The contest is mainly between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its former ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, in the absence of Hasina's now-disbanded Awami League. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus' interim gove...