Nepal, March 4 -- As Nepal heads to the polls this week, whichever politicians and parties come to power will face baseline expectations for systemic change-not performative optics.

For decades, political legitimacy in Nepal has rested on the narrative of sacrifice in the struggle for democracy, inclusion and equality. Imprisonment, exile and underground activism conferred a certain degree of moral authority and public trust. That history remains important, but it cannot serve as a permanent justification for a stranglehold over state power.

Political legitimacy rests not only on democratic ideals but on governmental performance-a relationship emphasised by Seymour Martin Lipset and later conceptualised by David Easton-through his disti...