Balendra Shah's Rastriya Swatantra Party heading towards landslide victory in Nepal's elections

KATHMANDU: (Mar 6) Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah's newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on Friday heading towards a landslide victory in Nepal's first general elections since the violent Gen Z protests toppled the K P Sharma Oli-led government in September.

According to the Election Commission, the RSP is leading in 70 out of 94 constituencies where counting was underway as of 2 pm, while the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and Nepali Communist Party were each leading in six constituencies.

The election was 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.