Nepal polls: RSP sweeps 120 seats on 60 pc turnout; Balen Shah to be PM

The RSP of the young musician-turned-politician Balendra 'Balen' Shah is heading towards a spectacular victory in the general elections that saw the legacy parties face rout at the hustings.

Formed in 2022, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has won 120 of the 165 directly elected seats while it is leading in another six in the House of Representative elections, according to the Election Commission (EC). The EC has announced results for 156 of the 165 seats as of 5:30 pm.

Results for only nine seats remain to be declared, EC officials said, adding that it may be late Sunday (March 8) night or by Monday (March 9) morning that the process will be complete.

Balen defeats Oli by 50,000 votes

The most striking result came from the Jhapa-5 constituency, where RSP's 35-year-old prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah — popularly known as 'Balen' — defeated four-time prime minister and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli by a margin of approximately 50,000 votes.

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A musician-turned-politician, Balen is now widely expected to be Nepal's next prime minister. He will be the first Madhesi leader and the youngest person ever to hold the office in the country's parliamentary history.

Legacy parties routed across the board

The results have dealt a severe blow to Nepal's established parties. The Nepali Congress finished a distant second with just 17 seats, while Oli's CPN-UML won only seven and is leading in three. The Nepal Communist Party and the Shram Sanskriti Party secured seven and three seats respectively, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party won one, and one independent candidate also claimed a seat.

RSP sweeps Kathmandu Valley

Independent candidate Mahabir Pun, who had resigned as education minister in the interim government, won in Myagdi-1 constituency in remote mountain districts beating his nearest rivals from the CPN-(UML) and the NC. Incidentally, the RSP had not fielded any candidate against him.

The seats won by RSP, headed by Ravi Lamichhane, include a clean sweep in all 15 constituencies of three districts in Kathmandu Valley, the EC data showed.

Legacy parties failed to convince voters for whom the major issues included fighting corruption and an end to nepotism apart from a generational change in political leadership of the country.

Senior leaders fall, RSP claims big scalps

Former deputy speaker Indira Rana Magar, of the RSP, won from Jhapa-2 by defeating the speaker of the dissolved House of Representatives and senior leader of CPN-UML Dev Raj Ghimire.

Rana Magar won by a huge margin of 48,742 votes against Ghimire, who secured 11,368 votes.

Nepali Congress president Gagan Thapa, 49, who was projected as his party's prime ministerial candidate, lost from Dhanusha-4 constituency to Amaresh Singh of the RSP.

Singh received 33,688 votes against Thapa's 22,831, according to the Election Commission.

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Other senior leaders of Nepali Congress, including general secretary Guru Raj Ghimire, Shekhar Koirala and Bimalendra Nidhi, also faced defeat.

Ten office bearers of the CPN-UML, including the party's general secretary Shankar Pokharel, also lost the election.

Other leaders of the CPN-UML who lost were vice presidents Bishnu Paudel, Prithvi Subba Gurung and Gokarna Bista, deputy general secretary Raghubir Mahaseth, and secretaries Sherdhan Rai, Mahesh Basnet, Rajan Bhattarai and Bhanubhakta Dhakal.

Lamichhane wins third straight term

Harka Rai, chairman of the Shram Sanskriti Party, won from Sunsari-1, defeating RSP candidate Goma Tamang.

RSP chairman Lamichhane won with a huge margin from the Chitwan-2 constituency, marking his third consecutive victory, with 54,402 votes against his nearest rival, NC's Mina Kumari Kharel, who received 14,564 votes.

Prachanda, RPP and others hold their ground

According to the EC, former prime minister and NCP leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' won from Rukum Purba district by securing 10,240 votes against his rival, Lilamani Gautam of the CPN-UML, who got 3,462 votes.

RPP's Gyanendra Shahi won from the Jumla constituency of Karnali province by defeating his closest rival, Naresh Bhandari of the NCP, and became the only candidate of the pro-monarchist party to have secured a seat in the House of Representatives.

The election also saw 10 women candidates emerge victorious — nine from the RSP and one from the NC.

India watches closely, Modi congratulates Nepal

The election was being closely watched by India, which is hoping for a stable government in the politically-fragile Himalayan country to take forward the developmental partnership between the two sides.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the people and government of Nepal for the successful conduct of the election.

"It is heartening to see my Nepali sisters and brothers exercise their democratic rights so vibrantly. This historic milestone is a proud moment in Nepal's democratic journey," Modi said in a post on X.

Voter turnout and election numbers

Nepal recorded approximately 60 per cent voter turnout during the March 5 election. Of the 275 parliamentary seats, 165 are filled through direct voting and 110 through proportional representation. Around 3,400 candidates contested the 165 direct seats, with the RSP also leading in proportional voting with 24,55,764 votes, followed by the Nepali Congress with 8,31,224.

(With agency inputs)