New Delhi, Feb. 10 -- Bangladesh is heading into one of the most consequential elections in its political history. The general election scheduled for February 12, 2026, under the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, is expected to be procedurally freer than many polls held in recent times. Yet the exclusion of the Awami League, the country's oldest and most entrenched political force, casts a long shadow over the process. Even if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secures victory, as most forecasts suggest, the result risks lacking political inclusiveness and moral legitimacy.

The backdrop to the election is extraordinary. It follows the student-led uprising of August 2024 that ended Hasina's 15-year tenure and forced her to...