India, Feb. 13 -- Thursday's election in Bangladesh has been a consequential one for the country. In the first place, the vote put paid to all doubts as to whether the election would be held at all, with speculations till the last moment pointing to a deferment or even cancellation of the exercise.

Second, there is the uncomfortable reality of the Awami League, the country's oldest political party, which powered Bangladesh to freedom 54 years ago, being forced by the interim regime headed by Muhammad Yunus to stay out of the election, owing to the ban imposed on it following the questionable removal of the government it led between 2009 and 2024.

Now that the election is over, the unmissable fact is that in the absence of the Awami Leag...