By Azad Majumder

DHAKA, July 15 (Reuters) - Bangladesh is committed to parliamentary polls before the end of next year as promised by the country's army-backed interim government, the election commission's chief said on Sunday.

"The cut off timeframe for the election set by the interim authority is no later than the end of 2008, and the commission is trying to hold the polls definitely within that timeframe," Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda told reporters.

As part of an "election roadmap" he unveiled at a news conference, Huda also said a digital voters roll with photographic identification would be finalised by October 2008 and that political parties intending to contest the coming polls must register themselves with the commission by June next year.

"We will not allow any party to participate in the election without registration," Huda said.

Both the government, headed by former central back head Fakhruddin Ahmed, and the commission have said they would hold a free, fair and credible election after implementing a string of electoral reforms and completing a drive against corrupt politicians.

More than 170 senior political figures have been detained, and some convicted and sentenced for corruption since the interim authority took over in January, imposed a state of emergency and cancelled an election planned for Jan. 22.

Huda said registration of the voters would begin formally later this month in the northern Rajshahi district and gradually spread all over the country.

A pilot project was successfully completed at Sreepur near the capital, Dhaka, in May, he said.

Politics in Bangladesh revolves around two biggest parties -- the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League, led respectively by former prime ministers Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina.

Huda said the commission was planning to hold local elections in rural and urban areas from January 2008.

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