Rappers riding the wave of Generation-Z in the elections, Kathmandu Mayor’s new party gets unmatched majority, all old parties wiped out
In 2019, Balendra Shah had asked a question in his popular song, ‘Balidan’, “How is a country made?” After six years, it seems as if the people of Nepal are handing over the responsibility to him and asking him the same question. In the general elections held in Nepal, the people gave such a landslide victory to the newly formed Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) of rapper Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah that the entire old long political process was put to rest. This mandate is as if the people have decided that the slate of the country’s politics should be wiped clean and a new stream should be started. Almost all the parties that emerged from strong political currents and the legacy of long political struggles receded into the background. Among the big name leaders, only Pushp Kamal Dahal Prachanda could save his seat. The situation as of now is that out of total 165 seats for direct elections, 125 seats seem to be in the account of RSP. Of the 275 seats in the Nepali Parliament, the remaining 110 seats will be decided through the representative election system. There are 58 representative seats. For a two-thirds majority, 184 seats will be required. Former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Oli’s party CPN-UML has got nine seats in direct elections and 16 in representative seats. In the direct elections, Nepali Congress got 18 seats and Nepal Communist Party got eight seats.
First time: Happiness of getting majority
Balen Shah was elected Mayor of Kathmandu for the first time three years ago. Then, last year i.e. in 2025, when Generation Z led violent protests in Nepal, he gained fame as a youth leader. Then the crowd on the streets used to raise slogans of ‘Balen’ and their songs were played on loudspeakers. These videos became very viral. After that, the candidates of rapper-turned-politician Balen’s party RSP got a lot of strength across Nepal.
If Balen’s party gets a two-thirds majority, it will be the first time that a single party will be able to do so. Due to Nepal’s dual voting system, it is difficult for any party to get a simple majority, so a two-thirds majority is a distant dream. Balen’s popularity can be gauged from the fact that he defeated former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli by a huge margin of 49,614 votes.
Born in Kathmandu in 1990 to a Newar Buddhist family of Maithil Madhesi origin, Balendra Shah rose to fame through songs highlighting corruption, poverty and backwardness prevalent in Nepalese society. The lyrics of his songs helped to connect him with the society. His songs reached the hearts of a generation going through despair and disillusionment. Especially the song ‘Balidan’, which has been viewed more than seventy lakh times on YouTube. Balendra expressed his political views through music, in which lyrics like, “The protectors of the country are fools. All the leaders are thieves, who are looting the country and eating it,” became very popular.
He returned to Nepal after completing his MTech degree in Structural Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka. In 2022, Balen refused to join Nepal’s ruling political parties and ran as an independent candidate for the post of mayor of Kathmandu. He won by more than 61,000 votes. He defeated established political families with an overwhelming majority, signaling a generational shift in Nepali politics. Sunglasses have become synonymous with Shah’s identity. During his election campaign, he was seen wearing a black blazer, pants, square-framed sunglasses and a Nepali flag draped over his shoulders. .
Balen’s unconventional political entry has earned him support from various groups in Nepal and has also gained him a lot of attention in the media. Shah was quoted in a New York Times article as saying, “I used to criticize leaders. Now I have become a leader myself.” Balen had supported the youth-led protests that erupted due to the ban on social media. After the Prime Minister’s resignation, he issued a message on Facebook, “Please remain calm. Loss of national resources is a collective loss for all of us. It is necessary for all of us to exercise restraint.” But Mitra Periyar, a prominent Nepalese Dalit rights activist, said in an article in The Kathmandu Post that Balen appeared to be ”ignorant of class and caste issues”. They warn of his “right-wing leanings”.
During his tenure as mayor, Shah dealt harshly with street vendors in Kathmandu and ordered the police to take strict action against them with the aim of keeping the streets clean in the capital and cracking down on unlicensed vendors. Periyar compares this behavior to that of ‘wild animals’ and claims that during his tenure as mayor, Balen did not make any arrangements for the people making a living as street vendors.
Soon after becoming mayor, Shah launched a large-scale demolition campaign in Kathmandu city in 2022. They used bulldozers to demolish buildings and structures that they said encroached upon public land. They drove away the homeless people without any rehabilitation plan. Balen publicly incited violence in 2023 by threatening to burn down Singh Darbar, the administrative center of the federal government, in a social media post.
Now that Ballen has got majority, a snippet of his 2022 interview is doing the rounds on the internet, in which he is seen saying that he would like to learn a lot from Hitler, like his strategic planning and ability to propagate a single ideology among the masses.
In an interview given to a media house, he also said, “In Bollywood films, Pakistan is always shown as a place with weapons and bombs. The citizens of Nepal are afraid of going to Pakistan.” He had put a map of ‘Greater Nepal’ in his office. This map extends the boundaries of Nepal beyond its current boundaries and also shows areas that were under Nepalese rule before the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.
Balen had taken this step as a symbolic response to the ‘Akhand Bharat’ mural displayed in the Parliament House in India. In the ‘Akhand Bharat’ map, many parts of Nepal were shown as part of India. He said, “I did not say anything for which I have to apologize. India called its parliamentary map a cultural map, so we put a historical map of Greater Nepal. No one should have any objection to this.”
Recently, in 2025, Balen used abusive language against various countries and political parties on his Facebook page. “Shame on India,” he wrote in a social media post, which was later deleted. Political activist Pawan Thapa, who is contesting from Dynamic Democratic Party, claims that Balen’s political ideology is not clear as he avoids talking to the press. Thapa claims that Balen is influenced by Hindutva ideology and wants to make Nepal a Hindu nation. Thapa says, “The people have struggled to get democracy back for the country. “It should not be that Nepal gets an incompetent leader or, worse, returns to an autocratic leader.” Whatever may be the case, the colors of democracy are unique.
