Rapper-turned-Mayor Balen Shah enters PM race, launches Kathmandu campaign

Mar 01, 2026

Kathmandu (Nepal), Feb 28 (ANI): Former rapper and mayor Balendra Shah (Balen), vying for PM, has launched a Kathmandu-centric campaign as the election draws close, with polling set for Thursday. Balen, standing in the fray from the Jhapa in the March 5 election, against former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, launched the campaign in Kathmandu with a road show. Hundreds of supporters and voters stood on the side of the road as the projected Prime Minister, alongside the party president Rabi Lamichhane, greeted voters from the sun-roof of the vehicle. Balen had been campaigning nationwide for his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party. The rapper-turned-mayor resigned on January 18 to contest the March 5 election. He had won the 2022 local election in Nepal’s capital and also took charge as a senior leader of the party the same day. The RSP had emerged as the fourth largest political force, winning 21 seats in the dissolved House of Representatives within a year of its establishment.