Eighteen months after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government following popular protests, Bangladesh has voted to elect its next leaders. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has won a resounding two-thirds majority, securing 209 seats of the 300 on offer. The Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, won 68 seats while its ally, the National Citizen Party, led by activists who were at the vanguard of the protests against Ms Hasina, has won six. Separately, more than 60% voters polled in
favour of sweeping reforms proposed under a referendum held alongside the election. Although the Jamaat has already raised concerns over accusations of vote manipulation in some constituencies, the election, on the whole, appears to have earned the legitimacy it needed in the eyes of most Bangladeshis. For Bangladesh, India and other neighbours, that should be a matter of significant relief.

From India’s perspective, the BNP’s clear win is an opportunity to recalibrate a relationship that is vital for New Delhi’s strategic interests but that has suffered grievously since the removal of Ms Hasina. Historically, India has had mostly strained
relations with the BNP. But unlike the past, the BNP is no longer in alliance with the Jamaat, a pro-Pakistan force India would have struggled to do any business with. The BNP leader, Tarique Rahman, has promised to build a Bangladesh that is inclusive and offers respect and security to its minorities. He has insisted that he will not pick sides among India’s neighbours — a policy that New Delhi can live with. While India has traditionally preferred Ms Hasina’s Awami League in power in Bangladesh, the party was banned from these elections. In its absence, the BNP and Mr Rahman are known commodities that India will trust itself to be able to work with. Indeed, India has been rebuilding ties with the BNP; the external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, was sent to Dhaka for the funeral of the former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, also Mr Rahman’s mother. The prompt congratulatory call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Rahman on Friday aims to build on that momentum.

Yet both for Bangladesh and India’s ties with its eastern neighbour, the election and its results mark only the first step towards normalcy. That a historic election saw a voter turnout of just 60% is an indictment of the current climate of political violence in Bangladesh and the denial of a chance to Awami League supporters to cast a ballot in favour of their party. Mr Rahman now faces the daunting task of delivering on the reforms promised in the referendum: that would mean limiting the prime minister’s powers, among other changes. And despite the attempted rapprochement by New Delhi, India’s long-standing support for Ms Hasina and her continued stay in India remain sore points for many Bangladeshis. These are contentious issues that New Delhi and Dhaka’s new government need to work on. Both sides must demonstrate maturity, patience and realism: India and Bangladesh need each other in a neighbourhood in flux.