DHAKA -- Bangladesh's main political parties on Monday welcomed an overnight official announcement fixing October 1 as the date for the general elelection.

Chief Election Commissioner M. Abu Syed announced the polling date in a nationwide television and radio broadcast late Sunday.

No immediate official statements were issued, but officials from the former ruling Awami League, headed by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, and its rival the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, said the polling date was acceptable.

"The Awami League will take part in the October 1 elections," one of the party's leaders and former minister Abdul Jalil was quoted as saying in the ***Bengali*** daily newspaper.

He added: "We are an election-oriented party and we have no alternative to elections."

This was in contrast to an earlier position when on Saturday Sheikh Hasina had said she would object if the polls were held in October rather than September, AFP reported.

The BNP's Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan also reacted favourably, telling reporters: "We have no objection as we wanted elections in October."

Zia had already made public her wish for elections to take place in October.

Bhuiyan reiterated that the caretaker government should create an atmosphere conducive to elections.

A caretaker government headed by former chief justice Latifur Rahman took over from Sheikh Hasina on July 15 with a mandate to organize free elections for the 300-seat Parliament by October 11.

As he announced the poll date, Syed appealed to the public to ensure the elections were peaceful, free and fair.

"We will ensure peaceful elections at any cost... I hope it will be a festive day," he said.

Syed said he, President Shahabuddin Ahmed and the caretaker government, would do everything in their power to ensure all 75 million voters were able to exercise their right to vote.

Along with police and other security forces, the military will also be deployed on election day.

More than 40 people have already died in clashes between supporters of the BNP and the Awami League since the caretaker government took over and it is feared there will be even more violence in the run up to the election.

According to the polls schedule, candidates will be able to file nominations by August 29.

The next Parliament will be the eighth since Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The last legislature was the first in the country's history to complete its full five-year term. The tenures of others were cut short by political upheavals.