Balen Shah’s party races toward landslide in Nepal
Rapper Balen Shah’s party sweeps Nepal polls after protests
The tea stall in Jhapa district had never seen anything like it. Old men who had voted since the monarchy days sat shoulder-to-shoulder with teenagers checking results on cheap smartphones, their faces lit by the glow of breaking news. Every few minutes, someone would shout a new number, and the crowd would erupt—not in the polite applause of before, but in the raw, joyful chaos of people who had just witnessed history.
Balendra Shah, the 35-year-old rapper they call “Balen,” was doing the unthinkable. In Jhapa-5, the stronghold of four-time prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, the young engineer-turned-mayor had secured more than 15,000 votes. The veteran Oli? Just 3,300. A 74-year-old political giant, reduced to a footnote in his own backyard.
Across Nepal, the story repeated itself. The Rastriya Swatantra Party, barely three years old, was sweeping 110 seats and leading in 90 more—a tsunami that analysts struggled to explain. In Kathmandu, Ranju Neupane became the first declared winner, her victory rally drowned out by supporters ringing bells, the party’s election symbol. “Our voters are shutting the door on all those who did nothing despite 35 years of chances,” she told cheering crowds.
But behind the euphoria, older memories lingered. Dharmakala Gautam, 74, watched from her village as workers counted ballots near the burnt ruins of Oli’s home—torched during last September’s Gen Z protests that killed 77 people. “Not much happened. I will keep some hope this time too.”
In Kathmandu’s tea shops, voters like retired engineer Nilanta Shakya, 60, reflected on what this meant. The country has had 14 governments in 18 years. Fourteen. Each one promising stability, each one failing.
Tek Bahadur Aale, 66, who voted in Jhapa, put it bluntly: “At the Gen Z protest, people died—and their blood will bring change, we hope. We want a government with good governance, no corruption.”
For the young, this wasn’t abstract. Ispa Sapkota, voting in Kathmandu, had protested in September to “end corruption.” Now she wanted jobs. Brain drain is our biggest problem.”
On Saturday, as results poured in, RSP supporters danced on Kathmandu’s streets. But party deputy chairman D.P. Aryal urged calm: “Once we work, a day will come for us to celebrate.”
In Jhapa, businessman Yagya Prasad Adhikari, 49, who had travelled from Kathmandu to vote, watched the counting with quiet hope. “We support Balen not celebrating.”
The burned homes, the dead protesters, the decades of broken promises—all of it had led to this moment. A rapper whose lyrics once asked, “Let me speak, sir, it is not a crime,” now stood at the threshold of power. Whether he could deliver what the streets demanded was a question only tomorrow could answer.
For today, Nepal was simply… hopeful.