Nepal’s Balendra Shah holds unassailable poll lead for seat

2026-03-07 - 09:04

Balendra Shah (left) led with more than 47,500 votes, with ousted prime minister KP Sharma Oli trailing behind on 12,600. (AFP pic) KATHMANDU: Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah held an unassailable lead against ousted prime minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday in the highly contested face-off in Nepal’s southeastern district of Jhapa, according to data from the Election Commission. Shah led with more than 47,500 votes, with Oli trailing behind on 12,600. With about 70% of votes counted, AFP calculations show Shah has passed the winning threshold. If the trends are confirmed by the vote count, 35-year-old Shah’s victory over the veteran Marxist leader — and his rise from city mayor to potential prime minister — would mark one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics. Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party looked set to win by a landslide in parliamentary polls, according to Election Commission trends Saturday, but with counting still far to go.