Bangladeshis head to the polls Monday for their country's first election in seven years, marking a return to democracy after two years of emergency rule by a military-backed interim government.

Security personnel in Dhaka get ready to carry ballot boxes and other election materials to polling centres a day ahead of general elections in Bangladesh. (Pavel Rahman/Associated Press)

The two top candidates are former prime ministers, both women, who were accused of corruption as they took turns in office over the past 15 years.

The governments of Khaleda Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist party, and Sheikh Hasina, head of the Awami League, were marked by allegations of corruption and mismanagement, as well as paralyzing protests.

The women were jailed on corruption charges by the current caretaker regime but then released to contest the elections.

Across the impoverished country, an unprecedented security operation is underway to curb election fraud and political violence. About 50,000 military personnel have been deployed in the streets.

Almost 2,000 foreign observers will oversee the balloting, along with 200,000 local monitors.

Scattered violence erupted Saturday between Zia and Hasina supporters, leaving 85 people injured in three districts, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported, quoting police and witnesses.

Bangladesh's last attempt at elections in January 2007 failed after weeks of deadly rioting between supporters of the two main parties over electoral reform.

Power was handed over to an interim government backed by the country's influential military, and a state of emergency was imposed.

The state of emergency was lifted earlier this month.

With files from the Associated Press