Srinagar, June 12 -- A democracy reveals its true strength at the grassroots.

Citizens experience government most directly through village panchayats, municipal councils and local representatives who live among them, hear their concerns and answer for their decisions.

That is precisely why the prolonged absence of elected local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir has become one of the most troubling governance failures in recent years.

More than two and a half years have passed without elected panchayats or urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.

The five-year term of urban local bodies ended in November 2023. The term of 4,291 panchayats, representing 33,597 wards, concluded on January 9, 2024. District Development Councils, which completed...