Nepal Election Results 2026 LIVE Updates: Balen Shah's RSP Eyes Landslide Win, Leads On 105 Seats

Early results from Nepal’s 2026 election show Balendra Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) leading in 105 constituencies and winning its first seat.

According to The Kathmandu Post, the Nepali Congress has one win and leads in 10 areas, while CPN-UML and the Nepali Communist Party are ahead in 12 and 10 constituencies respectively.

Other parties making early gains include the Shram Sanskriti Party with four leads, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Janata Samajbadi Party–Nepal each leading in one seat, and two independent candidates also in the lead.

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.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Ranju Neupane (Darshana) has won the parliamentary seat from Kathmandu-1, according to the latest vote count.

Counting trends from the capital show RSP candidates leading in nine other constituencies. Sunil KC is ahead in Kathmandu-2, Raju Nath Pandey in Kathmandu-3, Pukar Bam in Kathmandu-4 and Sasmit Pokharel in Kathmandu-5, according to The Kathmandu Post.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Ranju Neupane (Ranju Darshana) has won the Kathmandu-1 parliamentary seat under the first-past-the-post system.

Darshana, a prominent figure in Nepal’s alternative politics movement, entered mainstream politics at a young age. She joined the Bibeksheel Nepali Party in 2013 at the age of 17 and became known for her activism against nationwide bandh strikes that disrupted daily life, launching the “Strike Boycott Campaign”, according to The Himalayan Times.

She had also contested the Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayoral election at the age of 21. Nearly nine years later, Darshana has now secured a seat in Nepal’s House of Representatives.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Manish Jha has taken an early lead in the House of Representatives race for Dhanusha Constituency-3 in Madhesh Province.

According to the first round of vote counting, Jha has obtained 5,394 votes, The Himalayan reported.

Standing at the forefront of a nationwide shift in political sentiment, Shah has emerged as the leading prime ministerial contender for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). His rise marks a departure from the traditional dominance of veteran communist and democratic leaders, symbolising the aspirations of a younger generation that is increasingly disillusioned with the established political order.

A civil engineer with a master’s degree in structural engineering from India, he first gained fame in Nepal’s hip-hop community through socially conscious lyrics that critiqued political nepotism. In 2022, he stunned the establishment by winning the Kathmandu mayoral race as an independent candidate, defeating seasoned politicians from the major parties.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is leading in eight constituencies across Lumbini Province in early vote counting, The Kathmandu Post reported.

RSP candidates holding the lead include Sulav Kharel in Rupandehi-2, Suresh Kumar Chaudhary in Banke-1, Devaraj Pathak in Dang-1, Lekhjang Thapa in Rupandehi-3, Khagendra Sunar in Banke-3, Tofiq Ahmad Khan in Rupandehi-5, Bimal Pant in Palpa-1, and Shridhar Pokharel in Bardiya-2. Counting is ongoing.

Counting was underway in Nepal on Friday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following 2025 protests that toppled the government.

All eyes are watching the results in the key head-to-head battleground constituency of Jhapa-5, a usually sleepy eastern district, where 35-year-old Shah challenged directly the veteran Oli, aged 74.

Shah, better known as Balen, snappily dressed in a black suit and sunglasses, has cast himself as a symbol of youth-driven political change — and early trends suggested he was in the lead.

Soldiers with armoured trucks manned barbed wire barricades around the counting centre in Jhapa.

Early vote counting in Jhapa constituency number 5 shows Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Balen Shah taking the lead.

Out of 1,400 votes counted so far from ballots cast at Basbari School polling centre (A and B) in Kamal Rural Municipality and Moti School polling centre (A and B) in Gauradaha Rural Municipality, Shah has secured 814 votes.

CPN-UML candidate and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli is in second place with 384 votes.

Rastriya Swatantra Party chairman Rabi Lamichhane has extended a commanding lead in Chitwan-2, more than doubling the votes of his nearest competitor as counting continues, The Kathmandu Post reported.

After 12,196 ballots were tallied, Lamichhane secured 5,475 votes. CPN-UML candidate Asmin Ghimire follows with 2,251 votes, while Nepali Congress’ Mina Kumari Kharel and Nepali Communist Party’s Pratap Gurung have 2,053 and 1,531 votes, respectively.

A total of 87,221 votes were cast in the constituency.

Former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, is leading in Jhapa 5 constituency over ousted prime minister and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) chair Oli.

The RSP is leading in all of 10 constituencies of Kathmandu, according to media reports.

Indira Rana Magar, former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, has taken an early lead over former speaker Devraj Ghimire in Jhapa-2.

Rana has received 2,965 votes, while Ghimire has 1,147. Nepali Congress candidate Sarita Prasain is in third place with 1,125 votes, the Kathamdu post reported.

Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Ranju Neupane (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, who had narrowly lost in the previous two elections, finished third with 3,972 votes.

Rastriya Swatantra Party senior leader Balen Shah has taken a commanding lead over CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli in Jhapa-5.

Out of 2,303 votes counted so far, Shah has secured 1,476 votes, while Oli has received 384 votes, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Rastriya Swatantra Party has taken early leads in both Bhaktapur constituencies, the Kathmandu Post reported.

In Bhaktapur-1, RSP candidate Rukesh Ranjit is leading in the preliminary count, despite the constituency being a traditional stronghold of the Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party, whose candidate is Prem Suwal.

In Bhaktapur-2, Rajiv Khatri has overtaken CPN-UML candidate Mahesh Basnet to hold the lead.

At the centre of the political contest is Oli, the 74-year-old Marxist leader and former Prime Minister, who is attempting a return to power months after being forced from office by mass protests.

The election has been widely framed as a showdown between Nepal’s traditional political establishment and a rising youth-driven movement demanding reform.

One of the most closely watched races is in Jhapa-5, Oli’s traditional stronghold in eastern Nepal, where he is facing a high-profile challenge from Balendra Shah, a 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician representing the Rastriya Swatantra Party.

Standing at the forefront of a nationwide shift in political sentiment, Shah has emerged as the leading prime ministerial contender for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). His rise marks a departure from the traditional dominance of veteran communist and democratic leaders, symbolising the aspirations of a younger generation that is increasingly disillusioned with the established political order.

A civil engineer with a master’s degree in structural engineering from India, he first gained fame in Nepal’s hip-hop community through socially conscious lyrics that critiqued political nepotism. In 2022, he stunned the establishment by winning the Kathmandu mayoral race as an independent candidate, defeating seasoned politicians from the major parties.

The newly-formed Rastriya Swotantra Party (RSP) has won one seat and is leading in another 36 while the Nepali Congress is ahead on five, the CPN (UML) on three and the Nepali Communist Party on one, according to preliminary results in 46 seats where counting is in progress.

The RSP has won the Kathmandu 1 constituency with its candidate Ranju Darshana winning by a “huge margin”, according to RSP central committee member R K Dhungana.

Ranju secured more than 10,000 votes, almost double than the nearest rival, Prabal Thapa Chhetri of the Nepali Congress, Dhungana said, PTI reported.

Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stressed that the election must help restore stability and democratic order in Nepal, while expressing confidence that his party would secure a strong mandate in the General Elections 2026.

The election held in Nepal on Thursday was overall peaceful.

Oli, who is the Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), said the election carries the responsibility of reinforcing peace and ensuring citizens can continue their daily activities without fear.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Oli said, “This election has to maintain peace and order and ensure the public that normalcy is back in the nation so that people can continue their business and activities without fear or restraints,” ANI reported.