Srinagar, Aug. 27 -- By Muhammad Arbaaz Niazi

Kashmir has always tested politicians who want an easy relationship with power.

A candidate can win on a party symbol and still face a harder question once the celebrations end: whose voice does he actually represent?

That question has become sharper since 2019, as voters have grown more willing to separate an individual politician from the organisation behind him.

Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi now stands at the centre of that debate.

His confrontation with the National Conference has moved well beyond an internal party dispute, and has exposed a deeper anxiety over the distance between electoral promises and governmental power, particularly after the NC returned to government in 2024.

Ruhulla...