Rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah’s Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is all set to form the government in Nepal. Pirti has won Nepal’s general elections with a landslide victory, wiping out established parties in the politically unstable country. According to the Election Commission of Nepal, RSP has already won 119 seats out of 165 which are elected through direct voting process. The party is ahead on eight other seats in the House of Representatives elections.

Politics heated up regarding Balen Shah

After this victory of Balen Shah, discussions are also being held about his citizenship and artist, rapper and political image. According to media reports, discussions intensified regarding Balen Shah’s surname. In fact, the matter regarding Balen Shah’s citizenship has heated up earlier also. Till 2006, the surname was recorded as ‘Sah’ in his original citizenship certificate (2006), which was later changed to ‘Shah’. Subsequently, an allegation was filed against Balen Shah in the Home Ministry that he changed his surname without following legal procedures, which could be an offense under Sections 12 and 17(2) of the Citizenship Act, 2063.

With this victory of Balen Shah, there are also discussions about the end of traditional politics of Nepal. Balen Shah was a rapper and then he entered politics. His supporters cite his structural engineering degree and his ‘data-driven’ approach as mayor of Kathmandu as his biggest strengths. Leaving the traditional political path, he adopted the path of social media to connect with the people.

Balen Shah, who is called the leader of GEN-G, started connecting with people through other social media platforms including Facebook. However, his critics call him arrogant. While mayor, his removal of illegal encroachments and strict action against street vendors have been criticized by human rights groups.

The challenge will be to maintain coordination with neighboring countries

After his victory in the elections, there is also a growing discussion on how an actor, who lacks traditional diplomatic experience, will handle Nepal’s relations with powerful neighbors like India and China. His old social media posts, in which he criticized foreign powers, are now a topic of discussion.

India is keeping a close eye on this election. He is hoping for a stable government in the politically unstable Himalayan country so that the developmental partnership between the two sides can be taken forward. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the people and government of Nepal for the successful conduct of elections. PM Modi also said that as a close friend and neighbour, India is determined to touch new heights of peace, progress and prosperity with the people of Nepal and its new government.

According to initial trends, Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is leading on 23 seats in Nepal, while Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are leading on three seats each. The counting of votes started late on Thursday night. It is expected that the counting of votes will be completed by tonight.

Voting is being held in Nepal today on Thursday (5 March) to elect the new government. This general election is the first to be held in the country after the violent youth-led protests in September 2025, which led to the fall of the government. Since then, an interim government is running in this Himalayan country under the leadership of former Chief Justice Sushila Karki.

According to the BBC report, Nepal’s Election Commission has promised to release the results of 165 seats directly within 24 hours of the start of counting, but it takes at least a day to collect the ballot boxes from the hilly areas and bring them to the counting centres. Officials said that counting of voting results may take 2 to 3 more days. In such a situation, if the Election Commission fulfills its promise, it will be very different from the normal time taken to announce results in the country.

What did Nepal’s election officials say?
Nepal’s Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari says that he is committed to complete the counting of votes by March 9. During the last election of 2022, it took almost 2 weeks for the results to be declared. The reason for this is that some polling stations are located in inaccessible, hilly areas. More than 80 percent of Nepal is hilly areas, from where collecting ballot boxes is a challenging task.

According to Nepalese law, citizens are required to vote in their registered constituency, which is their birthplace. Counting of votes, which is done manually, also takes a lot of time. Each political party sends its representatives to the counting centers and they inspect each open ballot paper cast before counting.

how many voters in nepal
About 19 crore people in Nepal, including about 10 lakh first-time voters, are registered to elect 275 members of Parliament. Of these, 165 members will be elected through the first-past-the-post system, which means the candidate with the most votes will win the seat. The remaining 110 MPs will be elected through the proportional representation (PR) system, in which the proportion of votes received by a political party is taken into account.

Due to this dual system, it becomes difficult for any one party to win outright, hence whichever party comes on top in the elections may have to form a coalition government.

how many candidates are in the fray
According to the Election Commission, this time there are a total of 6,541 candidates. Of these, about 3,406 candidates are contesting directly elected seats, of which more than 1,000 candidates are below 40 years of age, while 3,135 candidates are contesting under the PR system. Voting will start at 7:00 am local time and continue till 5:00 pm. In some parts of the country, polling stations may remain open till late so that all interested voters can cast their vote. In the last elections, voting in some constituencies continued till 9 pm local time.

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General elections are going to be held in Nepal on 5 March 2026. This election is being considered very special because it is the first time that the country will vote after a major youth-led movement in September 2025. In that movement, there were demonstrations against corruption, unemployment and bad governance. 77 people were killed in these demonstrations and the government had to resign. After this the Parliament was dissolved and it was decided that elections would be held within six months.

The population of Nepal is about 3 crores. Of these, about 1.89 crore people are eligible to vote. These include about 10 lakh new youth voters. This is the reason why this election is also being called Gen Z election. The role of youth is being considered most important this time.

How many candidates in Nepal elections?

Elections are being held in Nepal for the 275-seat House of Representatives. In this, 165 MPs will be elected by direct vote and 110 MPs will be elected through proportional representation system. A total of 6,541 candidates are in the fray. Of these, 4,380 are men and 2,160 are women. 23,112 polling stations have been set up across the country for voting. Nepal’s electoral system is mixed. Every voter casts two votes. One votes for the candidate of his area and the other for the party list. According to the Constitution, women’s participation in Parliament must be at least one-third. For this reason, at least 50 percent of the candidates in the proportional representation list are women. It has also been made mandatory to give representation to Dalit, Tribal, Madhesi, Muslim and other communities.

Tight security in Nepal elections

Security has been kept very tight in Nepal elections. The Election Commission has deployed about 3 lakh 40 thousand security personnel. Nepal Police, Armed Police Forces and Army are jointly handling the security. Ballot boxes will be monitored at all times. Nepali Congress and Communist Party (UML) have been dominating the politics of Nepal for a long time, but this time Rashtriya Swatantra Party i.e. RSP has emerged as the strongest new force. This party was formed in 2022 and is now becoming the choice of the youth.

Who is Balendra Shah?

The most talked about person in this election is 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah. He has previously been the Mayor of Kathmandu and is now a contender for the post of Prime Minister. He is contesting elections from RSP. He is facing 74-year-old KP Sharma Oli, who has been Prime Minister four times and was removed from power after the Gen Z movement. Other major candidates include Nepali Congress’s Gagan Thapa and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Gagan Thapa is 49 years old and popular among the youth. Pushp Kamal Dahal has been Prime Minister thrice and is now contesting from Rukum-1 seat. Balendra Shah is very popular on social media. He has more than 10 lakh followers on Instagram, more than 35 lakh followers on Facebook and more than 4 lakh followers on X. He describes himself as a new voice against the old politics. The youth like his style, his clothes and his habit of speaking clearly.

How many votes were cast in Nepal in which year?

Earlier in Nepal, voting was 61.7 percent in 2008, 78.3 percent in 2013, 68.7 percent in 2017 and 61.4 percent in 2022. This time also good turnout is expected because young voters are very active. Experts believe that it is difficult for any one party to get a clear majority. There is a possibility that a hung parliament may be formed and a coalition government may be formed. But RSP can get big success. This election will decide whether Nepal will move ahead with the old leaders or give a chance to the youth. Counting of votes in Nepal will be done by hand and due to the large number of candidates, it may take about a month for the final results to come.

The protests in Nepal in the past have given a shock to the country’s economic situation. The violence, arson and sabotage caused by the Gen-G movement have caused loss of billions. About 10,000 people have become unemployed and major tourist places like Durbar Square, Pokhara, Bhairahwa and Chitwan have been vacant. The number of people coming on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has also decreased rapidly.

The current time of Nepal is usually of the tourist season, where a large number of people come to visit. A large number of migrants return to their country during this period and strengthen local trade. This strengthens Nepal’s economy. However, this time nothing like this seems to be happening. The biggest reason behind this is being considered as the Gen-G movement.

Arabian shock to the economy
According to the report of Kathmandu Post, Nepal’s economy has lost about 3 lakh crore rupees due to the movement, which is equal to the budget amount of one and a half years of the country. Government and private infrastructure have also suffered heavy damage. Economists estimate that the economic growth rate this year can go below 1%. Also, due to the upcoming elections, the government will also have an additional burden of Rs 30 billion.

Impact on industry
Nepal’s big business groups and taxpayers have also come under the grip of this crisis. Bhat-Bhatni Supermarket and Chaudhary Group have lost crores. The ENSEL telecom company also suffered heavy damage. According to the Hotel Association Nepal, the hotel business has lost about Rs 25 billion, while the auto sector has estimated a loss of about Rs 15 billion. However, many entrepreneurs have committed reconstruction. Bhat-Bhatni wrote in his message that he would return to a more strong, while Chaudhary Group Director Nirvana Chaudhary also spoke of reconstruction and better future.

Fall of tourism industry
Tourism is the major basis in Nepal’s economy. There is a big income in festivals and holidays, but this time the situation is completely opposite. Hotels, restaurants, airlines and travel agencies are empty. There is more silence than normal at sites like Durbar Square and Pokhara. The decline in the number of tourists has directly affected the livelihood of millions of people. According to hotelier Yogendra Shakya, the real challenge is to restore political stability in the coming months. If the situation does not improve, then the tourism industry will be affected for a long time.

Political stability and future
Before the elections to be held in March 2026, the Nepal government will have to face economic pressure. The trust of investors has also weakened due to political instability. However, the appointment of a new Prime Minister has raised hopes of reform. The industry believes that if political stability comes back, Nepal will be able to rebuild and the economy can gain momentum again.

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