Budgam, April 7 -- This episode lays bare the extraordinary lengths to which one individual - aided by the silent protection of the central administration - can go to cling to power. But it also reaffirms a deeper truth: you can delay democracy, but you cannot deny it. The will of the people has prevailed, proving that accountability - no matter how delayed - is inevitable.

After over a year-long legal and political struggle, Nazir Ahmad Khan has been officially removed as Chairperson of the District Development Council (DDC) Budgam. This marks the first successful no-confidence motion against a DDC Chairperson in Jammu & Kashmir and a powerful assertion of democratic will at the grassroots level.

Khan had controversially assumed the ch...