RSP nears two-thirds majority in Nepal polls; 161 of 165 seats declared
Balen Shah's RSP has won 124 seats, whereas the Nepali Congress (NC) has won 17 seats and is leading in one seat
File image of Balendra Shah, RSP's prime ministerial candidate (Photo: @ShahBalen/X)
Kathmandu, Mar 9: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is heading towards a two-thirds majority in Nepal's parliamentary polls, securing 124 seats under direct voting and nearly 40 lakh votes under the proportionate-voting system as of 7 am on Monday.
The RSP has won 124 seats and is leading in one seat, whereas the Nepali Congress (NC) has won 17 seats and is leading in one seat.
The CPN-UML has won eight seats and is leading in one seat and the NCP has won seven seats.
The Shram Sanskriti Party has won three seats, the RPP and Independent candidates have won one seat each.
So far, the results for 161 of the 165 seats have been declared under direct voting. The outcome on the remaining four seats is expected to be declared in the afternoon.
Under proportionate voting, the RSP has secured 37,89,803 votes, the NC 12,75,594, the CPN-UML 10,79,726, the NCP 5,55,300, the Shram Sanskriti Party 2,65,398, the Janata Samajwadi Party 1,16,463 and the Rastriya Parivartan Party has bagged 1,08,084 votes.
Nepal is set to witness its first Madhesi prime minister, Balendra Shah, who will also be the youngest elected executive head in the history of the Himalayan country.
The election marks a dramatic shift in Nepal’s political landscape, weakening the dominance of long-established political parties and signalling a surge in support for new political forces.
Earlier, reports had shown the RSP winning 39 of the first 50 seats declared and leading in around 80 more constituencies during the counting process.
The elections were also the first since the massive Gen Z protests last year that led to the fall of the coalition government led by former prime minister K P Sharma Oli.
The protests had demanded sweeping reforms, including an end to corruption, better governance and generational change in political leadership.
The RSP, founded in 2022 by media personality and former home minister Ravi Lamichhane, had projected Balendra Shah, popularly known as “Balen”, as its prime ministerial candidate.
A 35-year-old engineer, rapper-turned-politician and former mayor of Kathmandu, Shah emerged as a key symbol of youth-led political change during the campaign.
PTI