The former Kathmandu mayor’s commanding lead puts him on course to head Nepal’s next government
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenBibek BhandariPublished: 5:18pm, 7 Mar 2026Updated: 5:26pm, 7 Mar 2026A 35-year-old rapper and engineer who entered politics just four years ago holds an unassailable lead over a former prime minister in Nepal’s crucial parliamentary election, in a contest widely seen as a referendum on a generational shift in leadership after last year’s youth uprising.Balendra Shah – the former Kathmandu mayor widely known as Balen – has surged ahead of 74-year-old communist leader K.P. Sharma Oli in a race for a seat in Nepal’s House of Representatives in the eastern district of Jhapa, election commission data showed on Saturday.With more than 80 per cent of ballots counted, Shah had secured more than 55,500 votes against Oli’s 15,409, according to the commission’s figures, putting the result beyond reach even with votes still to be counted.
The decisive lead is expected to clear the way for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) leader to become the Himalayan republic’s next prime minister if his party’s strong showing nationwide is confirmed.
Both men contested from the eastern district of Jhapa, which observers have dubbed an “election epicentre”. Oli has won the Jhapa seat six times over the past three decades.
Once staunch supporters of Oli’s party, Neha Karki and 79 members of her extended family voted for Shah’s RSP this time.
