Nepal's Balen says will work with India to further strengthen bilateral ties

PTI, March 10, 2026, Kathmandu : Rastriya Swatantra Party's (RSP) prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah on Tuesday expressed confidence in further deepening "historic" Nepal-India ties and making them more "outcome-oriented".

The 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician is all set to become Nepal's first Madhesi prime minister and also the Himalayan nation's youngest elected executive head.

Shah made the remarks in a social media post while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his wishes on the party's electoral success.

"Thank you for the good wishes honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji," he said in the post.

"I express my confidence that we will work together to further strengthen, deepen and make more outcome-oriented the historic, close, and multi-dimensional relations existing between Nepal and India in the coming days," he said.

The RSP, formed in 2022, has won 125 of the 165 seats under direct voting in Nepal's parliamentary polls as vote counting under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system concluded on Tuesday, putting it in a position to form a majority government.

Modi on Monday congratulated RSP chief Rabi Lamichhane and senior party leader Shah for their election victory, and conveyed India's commitment to work with them for the mutual prosperity, progress and well-being of the two countries.

Shah defeated four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli by a huge margin in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) stronghold Jhapa-5 constituency in Nepal.

In his social media post, Shah also extended congratulations to the Indian government and the Indian people for "successfully winning the World Cup title for two consecutive times."

India won the T20 World Cup on Sunday, defeating New Zealand by 96 runs in the final held in Ahmedabad, while also becoming the first side to win it on three occasions.

The House of Representatives (HoR) in Nepal has a total of 275 seats.

While 165 members are elected through the FPTP or direct voting system, 110 members are elected through proportional representation (PR), counting of votes under which is still underway and is expected to conclude by Tuesday night.

However, a few more days would be required to declare the final results under the PR system and formally allocate seats to candidates of different parties, according to the Election Commission.

Under the PR system, the RSP has secured 4,974,957 votes, followed by Nepali Congress with 1,685,722 votes, CPN-UML with 1,402,157, Nepali Communist Party with 763,633 votes, Shram Sanskriti Party with 350,809 and Rastriya Prajatantra Party with 323,744 votes.

Based on the current trend, the RSP is likely to secure at least 50 seats under the PR system, which would take its total tally in HoR to around 175 seats, experts said.

It would allow the party to form a majority government under Article 76 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal.