Nepal’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Shisir Khanal will visit India from June 5 to 7 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, the government said on Thursday (June 4, 2026).

Mr. Khanal’s visit comes amid a controversy triggered by Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s remarks in the Parliament. Mr. Shah said on May 31 that apart from discussions with India on a long-standing border dispute, Kathmandu was in touch with China and the U.K. as well. Two days later, New Delhi categorically rejected any role for third parties to resolve its boundary dispute with Nepal.

Announcing the dates of Mr. Khanal’s India visit, the Nepal government on Thursday (June 4, 2026) said in a statement that he will hold a formal meeting with Mr. Jaishankar in New Delhi. “The two sides will discuss matters of mutual interest, with a view to enhancing cooperation across key areas including trade, investment, connectivity, energy and people-to-people ties,” it said.

As part of regular exchange of high-level visits, this one will further consolidate the enduring and multifaceted bilateral relations between Nepal and India, said the Foreign Ministry statement.

The visit will be the first visit to India by a Minister from PM Shah’s government since it assumed office in March.

Nepal’s leaders have traditionally attached importance to early engagement with New Delhi, reflecting the close political, economic and people-to-people ties between the neighbours.

Earlier this week, the chairman of Nepal’s ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichhane arrived in New Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I welcome and fully share his desire to work closely together for a shared and prosperous future. Nepal is a priority partner under our Neighbourhood First policy and we look forward to collaborating with the new government to elevate the special and multifaceted relationship between our two countries to greater heights,” Mr. Modi said on X after the meeting on Wednesday.

A five-member delegation of Nepal’s ruling party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), under the leadership of its chairperson Rabi Lamichhane, will visit India from Monday (June 1, 2026) at the specific invitation of BJP president Nitin Nabin. 

A statement released by the BJP giving out details of this visit said Mr. Lamichhane and the delegation would be visiting the party headquarters and hold meeting with Mr. Nabin and senior BJP leaders. The visit of the delegation assumes significance as it comes days after the cancellation of Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s proposed visit to Kathmandu. It is believed that Mr. Misri, who was due to visit Nepal on May 12 cancelled his visit after no assurance was forthcoming over a meeting with Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah. 

The meeting between the two ruling parties of India and Nepal therefore is being viewed as an effort to increase the political conversation between New Delhi and Kathmandu. 

“The visit seeks to initiate party-to-party engagement between the RSP and the BJP and provide an opportunity for exchange of views on organisational practices, democratic processes, and people-centric political outreach,” the BJP release said, adding that the party looked forward to a “constructive dialogue”. 

Mr. Lamichhane will also be making a personal visit to Ayodhya during the trip to India, the RSP said in a statement. The other members of the delegation are Bipin Kumar Acharya (joint general secretary of RSP and member of the House of Representatives), Deepak Bohora (secretariat member and member of the House of Representatives), Nikita Poudel, and Pradip Acharya.

The visit also comes a day after Prime Minister Mr. Shah said Nepal too had encroached upon some Indian territories, an unprecedented claim made by any Nepali government.

In the past, in 2022, Sher Bahadur Deuba became the first sitting Prime Minister of Nepal to visit the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, where he met then BJP president J.P. Nadda. Following that visit, former Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), also visited the BJP headquarters in the same year. 

Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel on Tuesday (May 5, 2026) promulgated the constitutional council ordinance, which paves the way for the government to appoint key positions in constitutional bodies.

The Constitutional Council (Functions, Duties, Powers and Procedure) Ordinance, 2026, was previously sent back to the government on Sunday (May 3, 2026) for review.

Nepal’s Home Minister Sudhan Gurung has resigned, less than a month after his appointment, following questions over his investments.

Mr. Gurung announced his resignation in a social media post on Wednesday (April 22, 2026).

Nepalis have not heard Prime Minister Balendra Shah speak since March 27, when he took the oath of office, following the first election since last year’s Gen Z protests. His silence has stood out as his government, still in its early days, prioritised rapid action over communication and consultation.

Within hours of its formation, the Shah government swung into action — in the name of “honouring the spirit and the mandate of the people,” with an emphasis on speed. On March 28, former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested over alleged negligent killings during the September protests. More arrests followed. Some members of the business community were detained for questioning in money laundering cases.

Indian Ambassador Naveen Srivastava paid a courtesy call on Nepal’s newly-appointed Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal on Monday (April 6, 2026) and discussed various aspects of bilateral ties.

Editorial | Neighbours first: On India-Nepal ties

Mr. Khanal assumed office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 27.

During the meeting, Mr. Srivastava conveyed External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s greetings on Mr. Khanal’s appointment, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

“Various matters relating to Nepal-India relations and cooperation were discussed on the occasion,” said the statement.

Mr. Jaishankar had extended his greetings to Mr. Khanal on X the day he assumed office.

Also read: India, Nepal finalise Mutual Legal Assistance pact; discuss revised extradition treaty

Mr. Jaishankar said he looks forward to working closely with his Nepalese counterpart to further strengthen the traditional partnership between India and Nepal.

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.)

The counting of votes under the proportional representation category in Nepal concluded on Wednesday (March 11, 2026), with the Rastriya Swatantra Party receiving the highest number of votes, according to the Election Commission.

The House of Representatives (HoR) in Nepal has a total of 275 seats. While 165 members are elected through the First Past The Post (FPTP) or direct voting system, 110 members are elected through proportional representation.

“The vote counting concluded. But final results are yet to be published since data entry is still taking place,” an EC official said.

According to the latest updates provided by the EC, a total of 1,07,85,876 votes were counted. The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) received 51,57,130 votes, followed by the Nepali Congress, which secured 17,55,872 votes.

The CPN-UML secured 14,52,758 votes while the Nepali Communist Party received 809,577 votes. The Shram Sanskriti Party secured 385,741 votes, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party 330,268 votes.

The RSP, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, NCP, Shrama Sanskriti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party are likely to get recognition as national parties.

The RSP made history by winning 125 out of 165 seats under direct voting held on March 5. The NC won 18, UML 9, NCP 7, SS 3, RPP 1, Independent 1.

The RSP, which bagged the highest number of seats under the direct voting system and the highest number of votes under the proportional representation category, is likely to take its total tally in the 275-member House of Representatives to around 183 seats.

The party has already got a simple majority and is close to a two-thirds majority, which is essential for constitutional amendments.

Now the Election Commission will allocate seats under the PR system to various political parties before submitting the full report to the president, which would take at least one week. Once the list is submitted, the process for the government formation will start.

A high-level commission to probe the killings, arson and damages during the Gen-Z protests in September last year submitted its report to Nepal’s interim government on Sunday (March 8, 2026), blaming lack of good governance and inefficiency by the then administration.

As the probe report was submitted to the interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki at the PM Office at Singhdurbar, neither the commission chief nor the government released any names of persons responsible for shooting at Gen-Z protesters and other related issues.

A total of 76 people were killed during the two-day protest — 22 youths on September 8 and 54 others on the next day.

A week after Sushila Karki took over as the interim Prime Minister, a decision by the cabinet on September 21 led to the formation of the judicial inquiry commission led by former Supreme Court justice Gauri Bahadur Karki to probe into the incidents related to the September Gen Z protests.

The incident occurred mainly due to a lack of good governance and inefficiency shown by the then government administration, the chair of the commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said.

People were frustrated due to the politicisation of government institutions, including bureaucracy and judicial bodies, he said.

“Those involved in shooting the Gen Z youths and issuing orders, as well as those who didn’t act to stop the killings, have been recommended for legal action,” chairman Karki told media persons after handing over the report without giving other details.

The Commission prepared the report, fulfilling their duty honestly and whatever facts they received during the investigation were included in the report without any prejudice, he said, and pointed out, “Now it is up to the government to implement the recommendations.”

The county may witness another Gen Z movement if the government fails to implement it, he added.

The probe commission was initially given a three-month period by the Cabinet to investigate the human and material losses of the Gen-Z movement of September 8 and 9 for completing the task. This period was later extended three times, giving an additional 75 days and was originally supposed to be submitted before the March 5 general election.

The general elections were necessitated after deposed Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigned on September 9, following the violent Gen-Z protests against his government over corruption and a ban on social media.