Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rahman on his party’s victory in the general election, saying he looked forward to working with Rahman to strengthen bilateral relations.
Preliminary results compiled by the Bangladesh media showed the BNP and its allies were leading in 181 seats out of 299 seats for which elections were held on Thursday. The Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies, including the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) were a distant second with 61 seats.
“I convey my warm congratulations to Mr Tarique Rahman on leading the BNP to a decisive victory in the Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh,” Modi said in a social media post. “This victory shows the trust of the people of Bangladesh in your leadership.”
Modi reiterated India’s stated position of backing a democratic and inclusive Bangladesh and said he looked forward to working with Rahman to build bilateral relations.
“India will continue to stand in support of a democratic, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh,” he said. “I look forward to working with you to strengthen our multifaceted relations and advance our common development goals.”
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Polling in 299 out of 300 parliamentary constituencies, amid the deployment of nearly one million security personnel, was largely peaceful and theElection Commission put the turnout at a little more than 60%.
The BNP, which has been out of power for close to two decades, has a history of fraught relations with India, especially under the leadership of late former premier Khaleda Zia.
Despite this legacy, the Indian government has made an outreach to the BNP leadership, with Modi offering assistance for Zia’s treatment before her death and sending external affairs minister S Jaishankar to represent New Delhi at her funeral. Jaishankar also handed over a letter from Modi to Rahman, in which the PM pledged to work with the BNP at a time when it was becoming clear that the party would win the polls.
Rahman, 60, won from two constituencies in Dhaka and Bogura, setting the stage for his elevation as the prime minister. He returned to Bangladesh last December after 17 years in self exile.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, once a close ally of the BNP that was barred from contesting elections by the previous Awami League government, won around 50 seats while the NCP won only a handful, with student leaders unable to translate their role in the nationwide protests that toppled the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024 into political power.
The BNP has already indicated it will form government on its own and the Indian side will breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the Jamaat, with its Islamic agenda and hard-line politics, kept out of power.
The Indian side is expected to now focus on rebuilding relations with Bangladesh, which went into freefall after Hasina fled to New Delhi and an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took over. The two sides have sparred repeatedly on a range of issues, including the oppression of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, water sharing and trade.
