Rapper-mayor Balendra Shah’s Gen Z-backed RSP headed towards landslide victory in Nepal
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Rapper-mayor Balendra Shah’s Gen Z-backed RSP headed towards landslide victory in Nepal")
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) leader Balendra Shah Photograph: (AFP)
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) led by former rapper and Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah is emerging as the clear winner in Nepal’s House of Representatives elections held on March 5, riding on a surge in popularity following the Gen Z-led movement in September 2025.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the three-year-old political outfit led by former rapper and Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, is headed to a landslide victory in Nepal and is leading in 105 of the 165 seats.
Shah, the musician who made an entry in politics in 2022 when he became the mayor of the capital, Kathmandu, is heading towards victory in the elections. Shah’s appeal is also driven by the work he has done as the mayor of Kathmandu, where he improved the urban infrastructure, like waste management, and ensured better healthcare services.
The RSP is emerging as the clear winner in Nepal’s House of Representatives elections held on March 5, riding on a surge in popularity following the Gen Z-led movement in September.
In Jhapa-5, Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, is leading against former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the president of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).
Oli resigned as prime minister of the Himalayan nation last year after the Gen Z unrest.
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In Nepal’s parliamentary system, 165 lawmakers are elected directly in a first-past-the-post method, while 110 are selected through a closed-list representation system based on the outcome of the directly elected seats. A political party is required to cross the halfway mark of 135 to form a government, which has become a rare occurrence in the Himalayan nation, where coalition governments are the norm.
A total of 67 political parties are contesting the elections for 165 first-past-the-post seats, and the counting process is still underway.
The election in Nepal is being closely watched by India, which hopes for a stable government in the politically fragile Himalayan nation.
“We look forward to working with the new government of Nepal to further build on the robust multifaceted ties between our two countries and peoples for mutual benefit,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in Delhi on Thursday.
