On April 24, Nepal marked its 20th Democracy Day. In a departure from tradition, no greeting message was issued by the newly elected Prime Minister Balendra Shah. Instead, a notice came from the Nepali Army.

The Army stated that “its serious attention has been drawn to information and statements being circulated in various media and social networks that mention the Nepali Army and its leadership.”

The election results in Nepal have been described as a political earthquake. This is not an exaggeration. There has been an emphatic and comprehensive rejection of old leaders and established parties that have dominated the political scene for decades. A younger generation of professionals and tech savvy figures, enjoying the support of Gen Z activists who took to the streets last September and toppled the Oli Government is set to take over.

Challenges ahead

By giving the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) a two thirds majority, Nepali voters have granted Balendra Shah (former Kathmandu Mayor popularly known as Balen) and his government, a powerful mandate for Nepal’s complete transformation. It now has a huge responsibility to answer wide-ranging expectations–-enough jobs for the youth, reversing the migration of millions desperately looking for work abroad, stimulate rapid inclusive economic growth, end nepotism and corruption, and ensure good governance. It needs to be noted, however, that while voters have demonstrated their impatience with the old order and its decades- old insensitivity to their aspirations, this is not a positive vote for a clear-cut new agenda for reform, political or economic, since it was never spelt out and placed before them.

As an American author had wryly observed “everyone wants revolution, but no one wants to do the dishes”. In other words the agitation and even the election, earthshaking though the result was, has been the easy part. The really difficult bit will begin now.

There is a real possibility of frustration and disillusionment that the new government will have to deal with as it settles down. The first warning shots were fired by the caretaker Prime Minister Sushila Karki even before the election, when she reminded the political class that the violent agitations of September 2025 had erupted because of the frustrations of people insisting on good governance, and a recurrence of mob fury on the streets was inevitable if the situation lapsed into the same old pattern, as it had when expectations of a ‘New Nepal’ were dashed to the ground within years of the Maoists joining the democratic mainstream, integrating with the Nepal Army, abolition of the monarchy and adoption of a new Constitution, making Nepal a secular federal democratic republic. It would be a tragedy indeed if even after such an election throwing up a stable people-centric development oriented government, the opportunity for improving the lot of Nepal’s people is squandered away.

Hopefully the people of Nepal will show the same maturity they have displayed in voting for change, by will give the new leaders enough time to address the many country’s problemschallenges facing the country.

Restructuring India-Nepal ties

For now, Nepal deserves every encouragement possible. India has been quick to extend it, without being loud or patronising. India has not been an issue during the election campaign. Its relationship with Nepal in recent years has focused on the right priorities — development, infrastructure, digital connectivity, energy. It has played its cards well and can continue to capitalise on the existing goodwill as the new leaders in Nepal seek to respond to development needs of the people.

Restructuring of the India-Nepal relationship has been long overdue. For far too long it has been trapped in the shadows of the legacy of British India days. Hopefully India and Nepal will seize every opportunity to fashion a forward- looking relationship based on today’s realities and popular aspirations and the immense potential for expanding cooperation. For this it will be necessary for policy makers on both sides to discard old mindsets, address long standing irritants with fresh approaches, and prioritise people-centric policies which can be delivered to keep pace with people’s expectations and needs.

India also needs to look at the recent developments in Nepal as part of a wider regional phenomenon since happenings in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and elsewhere also fall into the same pattern—agitations led by frustrated youth incidentally toppling pro-India political figures, demanding faster development and better governance. Labeling new political leaders being thrown up everywhere as anti-India just because of the legacies of the past does not seems no longer to be justified, as seen from the pragmatic readiness shown in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to cooperate with India, by parties and leaders once seen as unfriendly. At a geopolitical level, Pakistan and China will continue to be strategic concerns for the foreseeable future. China is politically on the back foot with its decades-long strategies of uniting the Communist parties in tatters after their recent election debacle .Even on the economic front, China’s appeal is somewhat diminished after a series of corruption scandals involving Chinese firms and Nepalese entities. Nepal’s new leaders will assert their right to sovereign space and seek close economic relations with China where there is advantage, but India needs to shed its traditional resistance to this for it no longer seems to have much strategic connotation. As for America, its intentions remain something of a question mark. Trump’s emphasis on curbing aid programmes, his war in the Gulf which will exacerbate Nepal’s economic difficulties, his peculiar treatment of India would have an impact on any enthusiasm for allowing the US much space in Nepal for its great games.

Nepal could be a good partner for India in the evolving geopolitical scenario, if both countries try seriously to fashion a clear cut sub- regional strategy for rapid growth which will make up for lost decades because SAARC has been in ICU. A meaningful repurposing of their bilateral ties is the need of the hour and the post-election opportunity in Nepal needs to be seized.

(K.V. Rajan is former Indian Ambassador to Nepal and Atul K. Thakur is a policy professional. They are the authors of ‘Kathmandu Chronicle: Reclaiming India-Nepal Relations’. Views are personal.)

Nepal’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the party of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, won a majority in parliament with 182 seats, Election Commission results showed Thursday (March 12, 2026).

The March 5 vote elected a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, with 165 seats chosen directly and 110 through a proportional representation vote.

“The counting of votes for the election of members of the House of Representatives… has been completed,” Election Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said in a statement.

In direct elections, RSP won 125 of the 165, and secured another 57 in PR votes, leaving them only two seats short of securing a powerful two-thirds majority.

The Nepali Congress, which was the biggest party in the last parliament, secured 38 seats, with the Marxists of now-defeated K.P. Sharma Oli trailing with 25 seats. The Maoists have seven seats.

“A letter has been sent to the concerned political parties today to select the names of the candidates and submit them to the Commission within three days,” Mr. Bhattarai said.

The vote was the first since deadly September 2025 youth anti-corruption protests toppled the government.

The demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy.

Mr. Shah himself defeated veteran four-time Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli — whose Marxist-led government was ousted in the violence last year — in his own seat.

His victory over the 74-year-old Oli and his rise from the capital’s Mayor to expected Prime Minister, caps a bold gamble and mark one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on Saturday (March 7, 2026) heading towards a sweeping victory in Nepal’s first general elections since the violent Gen Z protests, shattering the dominance of established political parties in the politically fragile nation.

According to the latest Election Commission data, the RSP has won 18 seats and is ahead in 99 others.

Nepal election results: RSP’s poll surge upends country’s politics, heads towards landslide victory

The election is being closely watched by India, which hopes for a stable government in the politically fragile Himalayan nation to take forward the developmental partnership between the two sides.

“We look forward to working with the new Government of Nepal to further build on the robust multifaceted ties between our two countries and peoples for mutual benefit,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in Delhi on Thursday (March 5, 2026).

He said India has “consistently supported peace, progress and stability in Nepal and in keeping with our commitment, provided logistical supplies as per request from the Government of Nepal for these elections”.

The Nepali Congress has won four seats and is leading in 11 others, while the CPN-UML has won a seat and is leading in 11 constituencies. The Nepali Communist Party has bagged two seats and is leading in 10 constituencies. The Shram Sanskriti Party is now leading in only three seats, as opposed to six earlier.

Out of a total of 275 members of the Parliament, 165 will be elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 will be elected through a proportionate method.

In the Nepal elections, about 18.9 million voters were eligible to elect 275 members of the House of Representatives, with around 60 per cent of them turning out to vote on Thursday (March 5 2026).

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

The Gen Z youth, through their 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 Nepali Congress that enjoyed nearly two-thirds majority support.

After Mr. Oli’s ouster, President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved the House of Representatives on September 12 and appointed Sushila Karki as the caretaker PM.

The major issues raised by Gen Z are anti-corruption, good governance, an end to nepotism, generational change in political leadership, etc.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah was on Sunday (December 28, 2025) nominated the prime ministerial candidate as he and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) inked a pact to jointly contest the March 5 Nepal elections.

Also Read I Face of Gen Z protests in Nepal and front-runner for PM post Balendra Shah studied in Karnataka

The seven-point agreement, reached after overnight marathon negotiations, designates 35-year-old Mr. Shah as the parliamentary party leader and the prime ministerial face, while Rabi Lamichhane will continue as chairperson of the RSP, the fourth-largest party in the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR).

As per the agreement, Mr. Shah and his group will contest the elections on the RSP’s election symbol ‘Bell’, allotted by the Election Commission. With him agreeing to merge his team with the RSP, the party’s name, flag and election symbol will remain unchanged.

Following the agreement, Mr. Lamichhane said the consensus should reflect the needs of the country rather than the ambitions of individual leaders. He shared the remarks in a Facebook post on Sunday morning (December 28, 2025). The agreement states that the two sides have taken “ownership of the movement launched by the younger generation against corruption and bad governance”, and expressed commitment to address the demands raised by Gen Z protesters, including those injured during the movement.

Political observers see the pact as a significant step towards uniting emerging youth-led political forces that spearheaded the September movement, which led to the fall of the K.P. Sharma Oli-led government. Following the deal, a large number of Gen Z supporters are expected to join the RSP.

Also Read I Deposed Nepal PM Oli gets re-elected as CPN-UML chair for third term

Another newly formed group, the Ujyalo Nepal Party (UNP) led by Energy and Water Resources Minister Kulman Ghising — who has held several rounds of talks with Mr. Shah on unity and collaboration — is yet to announce a decision on joining the alliance. The signing ceremony was attended by senior RSP leaders, including Swarnim Wagle, D.P. Aryal and Shishir Khanal, along with Asim Shah from Mr. Lamichhane’s side. While, Kumar Byanjankar, Nishchal Basnet and Bhoop Dev Shah represented Mr. Shah’s camp.