RSP heads towards historic victory in Nepal election, Balen Shah likely next PM

Kathmandu, Mar 8 (PTI) The RSP of the young musician-turned-politician Balendra Shah 'Balen' is on Sunday 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, it may be late Sunday night or by Monday morning that the process will be complete.

Counting started soon after voting completed on Thursday and Saturday saw start of the results being declared, a major among them being RSP's 35-year-old prime-ministerial candidate Balen defeating four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal's one of the largest parties -- CPN-UML -- by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in the Jhapa-5 constituency.

Balen is expected to be the next prime minister of Nepal, reflecting a public mood of rejection of established parties. He will be the first Madhesi prime minister of the Himalayan nation and also the youngest to occupy the top post in the country's parliamentary history.

The Nepali Congress (NC) is a distant second, winning 17 seats while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – CPN-(UML) -- of ousted prime minister K P Sharma Oli has won just seven seats and is leading in three.

The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has won seven seats, the Shram Sanskriti Party has won three while the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) won one seat, the EC data showed. Among the winners is one independent.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nepal witnessed about 60 per cent voter turnout during the March 5 election to the House of Representatives.

Of the 275 members of Parliament, 165 are being elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 through a proportionate method.

Around 3,400 candidates were vying for 165 seats under direct voting and 3,135 candidates for 110 seats through proportionate voting.

The RSP is also leading in proportional voting system with 24,55,764 votes followed by the Nepali Congress with 8,31,224 votes.

The CPN-UML has received 7,09,575 votes, the Nepali Communist Party 3,36,933, the RPP 1,78,975 and Shram Sanskriti Party 1,21,066 votes, according to the EC. Gen Z, through its two-day intensified protests on September 8 and 9 last year, ousted Prime Minister Oli, who was heading a coalition government with the backing of the Nepali Congress that enjoyed nearly two-thirds majority support.

The major issues raised by Gen Z before and during the election campaign were anti-corruption, good governance, an end to nepotism, a generational change in the political leadership, etc. PTI SBP RC GSP NPK NPK