India, Feb. 13 -- Long overshadowed by the towering legacies of his parents and having spent nearly two decades in the political wilderness of London after grave corruption charges forced him out of Dhaka, Tarique Rahman has finally stepped into the centre of the Bangladeshi stage.

At 60, the chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is poised to become the next prime minister of a nation of 170 million people following a sweeping victory in the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who is now in self-exile in India.

His ascent marks a dramatic turnaround for a man once labeled by US diplomats as a "symbol of kleptocratic government" and a "flawed heir apparent".

Today, as he prepares to lead a count...