A three-member probe committee has been formed in the incident of irregularities in the Gaibandha-5 by-polls that took place on Wednesday, says Chief Election Commissioner Habibul Awal.

The committee comprising the Election Commission's Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath and Joint Secretaries Shahedunnabi Chowdhury and Kamal Uddin has been asked to submit the probe report within seven days, he said during a press conference held on Thursday at the media center of the Nirbachan Bhaban. The media briefing was arranged to clear the "confusion" about the suspension of polling.

The CEC also said that further decisions regarding the by-polls in the Gaibandha-5 constituency will be taken after receiving the probe report.

Amid criticism from various quarters, Habibul Awal said, "We did not take any decision impulsively and the CEC cannot take a decision alone. The decision [to halt the election] was collectively taken by the Election Commission.

"The decision was taken after much deliberation."

"Irregularities had taken place in a few polling centres which suggest that the situation might have been similar in all centres. Thus, the Election Commission decided to suspend voting in the Gaibandha-5 by-polls," said the CEC.

When asked how the Election Commission would handle a large scale election considering how the Gaibandha polls turned out, the CEC said, "Only time will tell. We will take action according to the situation at hand.

"We should not evaluate all elections based on one election."

The by-poll in Gaibandha-5 constituency was suspended after a slew of "rampant irregularities" including voters being forced to cast votes for certain candidates, disconnected CCTV cameras and more than one person entering the ballot booths.

In the first move of its kind seen in Bangladesh's democratic history, the Election Commission (EC) suspended voting around four hours after it began at 8:00am as the environment at polling centres "went out of control" amid allegations of vote rigging using the hotly debated electronic voting machines (EVMs).

These irregularities happened in a few polling centre which indicates that the situation might be the same in all centres, so the election commission halted the Gaibandha-5 elections, said the CEC.