Nepal election result highlights: Rapper-politician Balen Shah’s RSP makes sweep; ex-PM Prachanda survives

Nepal elections 2026: Updates to this live blog have closed.

Nepal election LIVE: Amid the RSP and Balendra Shah victory, the Nepal Election Commission continues to count the votes of the general elections. As per the election commission, the results for three seats are yet to be declared. These are –

Gorkha, Gandaki Province

Ilam, Koshi region

Sankhuwasabha, Koshi region

Nepal election LIVE: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has strengthened its position in the House of Representatives by winning 124 seats and leading in one more constituency, according to the latest update from the election commission.

The Nepali Congress has secured 17 seats and is leading in one constituency.

The CPN-UML has won eight seats and is leading in one constituency, while the Nepali Communist Party has secured seven seats.

Days after the election, which came after a Gen-Z led revolution overthrew by KP Sharma Oli government, the results are still being counted and is now down to the last three seats.

Nepal election LIVE: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) swept the general elections in Nepal, paving the way for rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ to become the next Prime Minister of the country.

The 35-year-old led the RSP to victory in crucial polls held on March 5, the first since the KP Sharma Oli-led government resigned in September last year after youth-led ‘Gen-Z’ protests in the country.

Of the 165 seats that went to polls on March 5, Balen Shah-led RSP has already won 124. Of the wins and leads, the RSP has 124 seats in its pocket, while it leads on one more seat.

The Nepali Congress has 17 wins, and one lead. The CMP-UML has eight seats, plus one lead.

Nepal election LIVE: 13 out of 16 women candidates from Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won their constituencies in general election, the first since the Gen-Z protest. The winners secured victory by overwhelming margins, according to the Kathmandu Post.

Nepal election LIVE: Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has emerged as the winner in Nepal elections, winning 122 seats and leading in three more constituencies, according to the Election Commission. The Nepali Congress has secured 17 seats.

Nepal election LIVE: Nepal interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki said that the detailed report of the high-level investigation commission on Gen-Z protest will not be released anytime soon. Karki announced the decision after receiving the over 900 paged document at a closed-door event held at her office, according to ANI.

“Regarding its implementation, we won’t be in power till that time as we have to handover authority to the upcoming government, and I am confident that they’ll study it and implement it in the coming days. For now, we will also study it- I, along with the Home Minister, will be involved in this process and also present it to the cabinet amongst all the sitting ministers… We won’t be releasing all the detailed accounts, but the crux of it,” Karki said on Sunday.

Of the 165 seats that went to polls on March 5, Balen Shah-led RSP has already won 122. Results for 159 have been declared; with votes for six being counted.

• Of the wins and leads, the RSP has 122 seats in its pocket, with leads on three more.
• The Nepali Congress has 17 wins, and one lead.
• The CMP-UML has eight seats, plus two leads.
• The NCP has seven wins, while five have gone to other parties or independents, says the latest data from the country’s election commission website.

Under the proportional representation category of seats – 110 of the total 275 – around 5 million votes were counted so far. On this count, the RSP leads with 2.5 million, followed by the Nepali Congress with 844,387 votes, and the CPN-UML of KP Sharma Oli with 722,746 votes, as per the Nepal poll panel data. The Nepali Communist Party of ex-PM Prachanda has secured 345,847 votes, while the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has 181,500 votes, and the Shram Sanskriti Party 124,229 votes.

How the proportional representation seats are given: Explained here

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) now leads on 122 seats in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) count, far ahead of all rivals. The Nepali Congress has won 17 seats, CPN-UML and the Nepali Communist Party 7 each, and others have five, of the 165 seats up for the taking. Counting on seven of those was still on.

Nepal’s House of Representatives has 275 seats in total — 165 FPTP and 110 filled by proportional representation, which are yet to be fully allocated. On FPTP seats alone, the RSP’s tally of 122 already represents nearly three-quarters of the 165 available, as per data shared by The Kathmandu Post.

In the RSP’s landslide victory in the House of Representatives elections in Nepal, it has achieved a milestone in the success of women candidates too, with 13 of its 16 female nominees emerging victorious. Most winners secured their seats by overwhelming margins.

Among three former prime ministers who contested the March 5 general election in Nepal, only Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ managed to win his seat amid the RSP tsunami almost finishing off the old guard in the Himalayan nation.

The biggest loss by a legacy party came when RSP’s PM candidate Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ defeated K P Oli, chair of CPN-UML and four-time prime minister. The March 5 general elections were necessitated after Oli resigned in September last year following protests by the youth-led ‘Gen Z’ group against his government over corruption and a ban on social media.

Meanwhile, Prachanda, 71, who is known for choosing a new constituency every election. “He changed his constituency time and again seeking a safer one and this time he contested the election from remote Rukum East, one of the strongholds of the erstwhile Maoist party,” said Sunil Babu Pant, a former Parliament member.

“This time the former Maoist guerrilla commander has not only changed the constituency but also changed the party’s name to Nepali Communist Party,” he added.

Months ahead of the polls, he dissolved the CPN-Maoist Centre, changed the name of the party after merging two dozen fringe parties into it. He is now the co-coordinator of the new party NCP.

Another former prime minister Madhav Nepal, 73, the co-coordinator of the NCP, lost in Rautahat-1 to RSP’s Rajesh Kumar Chaudhari.

Baburam Bhattarai, 71, another former prime minister and chair of Pragatishil Lokatantrik Party, had contested from Gorkha-2 constituency, but later withdrew.

Among the winners in the Nepal elections is an independent candidate, Mahabir Pun, who had resigned as education minister in the interim government of Sushila Karki. He has won in Myagdi-1 constituency in the remote mountain districts, beating his nearest rivals from the CPN-UML and the NC.

The RSP had not fielded any candidate against him.

The seats won by RSP include a clean sweep in all 15 constituencies of three districts in Kathmandu Valley, the EC data showed.

Legacy parties failed to convince voters for whom the major issues included fighting corruption and an end to nepotism apart from a generational change in political leadership of the country.

The election also saw 10 women candidates emerge victorious so fa — nine from the RSP and one from the NC.

The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has won 120 of the 165 directly elected seats in Nepal while it is leading in another six in the House of Representative elections, according to the country’s election commission.

The EC has announced results for 156 of the 165 seats as of this time, reported news agency PTI. Results for only nine seats remain to be declared, EC officials said, adding, it may be late Sunday night or by Monday morning that the process will be complete.

Counting started soon after voting completed on Thursday and Saturday saw start of the results being declared, a major among them being RSP’s 35-year-old prime-ministerial candidate Balen defeating four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal’s one of the largest parties, CPN-UML, by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in the Jhapa-5 constituency.

The Nepali Congress (NC) is a distant second, winning 17 seats while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or CPN-UML has won just seven seats and is leading on three.

The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has won seven seats, the Shram Sanskriti Party has won three while the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) won one seat, the EC data showed.

At a time when Nepal is set to get a new government, a report has been submitted on alleged lapses by the then regime that fueled protests by mostly Gen-Z citizens in September 2025. That protest unseated the regime, and led to the elections now held.

According to Bigyanraj Sharma, a member of the high-level commission formed to investigate the violence against the protesters, confirmed the lapses without further elaborating on the contents of the report. He noted that irregularities were observed while setting up barriers around the federal parliament.

“In the parliament premises, at the beginning of the protest, irregularities were recorded while setting up the barriers,” Sharma said while briefing mediapersons after handing over the report to the interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki

The Gen-Z protests, which called for transparency, accountability of the then government under former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and an end to the social media ban across the country, turned violent near the federal parliament. In response, police forces used water cannons, tear gas, and live ammunition.

Security personnel reportedly fired from within the parliament building after protesters breached the gates and set the entrance ablaze.

At least 77 people have been confirmed dead in the protests, while nearly two dozen protesters were shot by security forces on a single day.

The day after the escalating violence and protests, Oli, who had been adamant about staying in power, resigned.

Balen Shah-led RSP clearly has more than half the directly elected seats, and the results of the proportional representation seats also looks to be in its favor.

Analysts say the party would have comfortable numbers in the parliament to form a single-party government but faces challenges running the government.

“The problem or challenge with this new party would be to deliver things, given the limited resources and the limited institutional support. Because people have high expectations, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the new party can fulfill it,” said Keshab Prasad Poudel, an independent analyst, speaking to news agency AP.

A commission formed in Nepal to investigate killings and damages during the Gen Z movement in September 2025 submitted its report to the interim government on Sunday, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Commission chief Gauri Bahadur Karki handed over the findings to PM Sushila Karki in a programme attended by ministers, the chief secretary, and other commission officials.

“You have worked very hard. Initially, the time we set was insufficient due to our resource constraints. Later, we had to extend it. We appointed you, knowing your expertise and credibility. I trust that the report fairly distinguishes facts from falsehoods,” the prime minister’s secretariat quoted PM Sushila Karki as saying.

Commission member Bigyanraj Sharma noted that the report only serves as an investigation, and the relevant authorities must now carry out actions based on its findings.

Of the 165 seats for which direct elections were held, the Rastriya Swatantra Party of Balendra Shah has won 119 already; it is leading on six more, reported The Kathmandu Post, as of 3:45 pm in Nepal (NPT) or 3:30pm IST:

The Nepali Congress has 17 wins, no current leads.

The CPN-UML of ex-PM KP Sharma Oli has only seven wins, plus three leads.

The Nepali Communist Party has six wins and two leads.

The Shram Sanskriti Party has two wins and one lead.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party has one win.

Others have won three seats.

Nepal’s March 5 election has wiped out the old guard. KP Sharma Oli, four-time former prime minister, lost to Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ in Jhapa-5. Nepali Congress president Gagan Thapa fell to Balen-led RSP’s Amresh Kumar Singh in Sarlahi-4. UML vice-chairmen Bishnu Paudel and Gokarna Bista, general secretary Shankar Pokharel, and several secretaries all lost their seats.

On the Congress side, general secretaries Gururaj Ghimire and Pradeep Poudel, along with multiple joint general secretaries, were defeated. Madhesh-based leaders Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato and CK Raut also lost, reported The Kathmandu Post.

Political analyst Indra Adhikari told the news outlet the parties must first accept the verdict, admit past failures, and undertake serious introspection. Analyst Shri Krishna Anirudh Gautam said older parties’ leaders should step down and hand over the reins to new faces.

The vote counting in Nepal is nearing conclusion and the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is set to secure a clear majority. But that’s a part of the equation. Nepal follows a mixed electoral system — 60% of representatives in the legislature are elected through the first-past-the-post system (FPTP), while the remaining 40% are selected through proportional representation (PR) as per party strengths. Under the direct electoral system or FPTP, candidates vie for 165 seats in the House of 275. The remaining 110 are chosen through proportional representation.

The Election Commission of Nepal has already collected closed lists of proportional representation candidates from the political parties on December 29, Kathmandu Post reported. Under the PR system, the entire country is treated as a single constituency, and all votes are pooled together. Parliamentary seats are then allocated to parties according to the percentage of votes they received.

Here’s how the system works: Explained

Nepal election results LIVE: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Ganesh Parajuli has strengthened his lead in Kathmandu Constituency No. 7.

According to the latest tally, Parajuli has secured 4,677 votes, reported The Kathmandu Post. CPN-UML candidate Prakash Shrestha is trailing with 904 votes, while Nepali Congress candidate Pramod Hari Guragain has received 720 votes. Nepali Communist Party’s Basant Prasad Manandhar has polled 619 votes, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party candidate Lal Kumar Lama has secured 242 votes so far.

Nepal election results LIVE: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Pradeep Bista has widened his lead in Kathmandu Constituency No. 10 as vote counting continues.

According to the latest tally, Bista has secured 6,660 votes and is ahead by around 5,000 votes. Nepali Congress candidate Himal Karki has received 1,348 votes, while CPN-UML’s Binod Shrestha has polled 1,001. Nepali Communist Party candidate Rupa Maharjan Shrestha has secured 436 votes so far.

Nepal election results LIVE: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Ranju Neupane, popularly known as Ranju Darshana, has won the parliamentary seat from Kathmandu-1, according to the final vote count. Darshana secured 15,455 votes, defeating Nepali Congress candidate Prabal Thapa, who received 6,364 votes. Rastriya Prajatantra Party candidate Rabindra Mishra finished third with 3,972 votes.

Nepal election results LIVE: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Pukar Bam has been elected to the House of Representatives from Kathmandu Constituency No. 4 after securing a commanding lead over his rivals.

Bam received 29,142 votes in the election. Nepali Congress candidate Sachin Timilsena finished second with 8,824 votes, while CPN-UML’s Rajan Bhattarai came third with 5,733 votes.