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Youth wave propels RSP to power in Nepal, signals shift away from traditional parties

By Nava Thakuria* 
When most Left veterans and their parties failed to impress Nepal’s electorate in the single-day polling conducted on 5 March 2026, a relatively new party and young leaders secured a decisive mandate in the Himalayan republic. The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), formed in mid-2022, recorded a resounding victory in the election that was necessitated by the violent youth uprising of September 2025 which shook the South Asian nation of 30 million people and led to the collapse of the government in Kathmandu.
The party, with young leader Balendra Shah as its prime ministerial candidate, won 125 out of the 165 constituencies where polling was held to fill seats in the 275-member House of Representatives. Balendra, the engineer-turned-rapper-turned-politician, even defeated his nearest rival KP Sharma Oli, the veteran Marxist leader, in his home turf of Jhapa-5 constituency in eastern Nepal. The former mayor of Kathmandu defeated Oli by a margin of around 50,000 votes. Notably, the four-time premier, who leads the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML), had been ousted last year during the deadly anti-corruption uprising.
The CPN-UML was restricted to just nine seats, while the Hindu-majority republic’s oldest party, the Nepali Congress (NC), emerged a distant second with 18 constituencies. According to the Election Commission of Nepal, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), a combination of Maoist parties, secured seven seats, followed by the Shram Sanskriti Party (three) and the pro-monarchist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (one).
RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane and Pushpa Kamal Dahal—who led the anti-monarchy insurgency from 1996 to 2006 and contested the election as an NCP candidate—won in their respective constituencies. However, NC president Gagan Thapa lost his contest. More than 60 per cent of the country’s 19 million voters exercised their franchise in the election, where 10 women candidates (nine nominated by the RSP and one by the NC) also emerged victorious.
The remaining 110 seats in Parliament are filled through the proportional representation system. Under this system, the RSP secured 5,183,493 votes, earning an additional 57 seats. The NC received 1,759,172 votes to gain 20 more seats. The CPN-UML, with 1,455,885 votes, secured 16 seats, followed by the NCP (811,577 votes and nine seats), the SSP (385,856 votes and four seats), and the RPP (330,684 votes and four seats).
Conducted under the stewardship of interim premier Sushila Karki—who earlier served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal and was sworn in on 12 September 2025 as the first woman Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal—the election remained largely peaceful. When President Ramchandra Paudel appoints Balendra as the new prime minister, he is expected to become one of the youngest heads of government in Nepal and the first from Madhesh Province.
Located in southeastern Nepal and bordering the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the province is believed by many Sanatani Hindus to be the birthplace of Sita, as described in the epic Ramayana, when the region was historically known as Janakpur.
Earlier, the Maithili-speaking politician attracted global media attention by withdrawing the China-backed Damak project in Jhapa district from the election manifesto. Strategically located near the Siliguri Corridor—often referred to as the “Chicken’s Neck”—the project, later renamed the Nepal-China Friendship Industrial Park, was linked to Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s global infrastructure programme, and was viewed with concern in New Delhi.
Balendra has promised to pursue a “Nepal-First” policy in dealing with foreign nations. He has also pledged to create 1.2 million jobs to address rising unemployment and frustration among Nepali youth, and to establish social safety measures including healthcare insurance and other welfare initiatives for the entire population.
Political observers in Kathmandu believe the election signals a decisive rejection of communist-aligned political parties that have dominated the country’s politics for nearly two decades. The development could also open a new chapter in relations between Nepal and India, which have experienced strains in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promptly called RSP leaders to reaffirm New Delhi’s commitment to working with the new government for mutual prosperity and progress. Earlier, Modi congratulated the people of Nepal and the interim government in Kathmandu for the successful completion of the 2026 general election, saying that as a close neighbour India remains steadfast in its commitment to working closely with Nepal and its new government to scale new heights of shared peace, progress and prosperity.
—
*Senior journalist based in Guwahati

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