In a seismic political shift during the 2026 general elections, Balendra Shah, a senior leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been elected to the House of Representatives from Jhapa Constituency No. 5. Shah secured a monumental victory by defeating former Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli in his long-standing home turf.

Shah garnered a staggering 68,348 votes, while his closest rival, KP Sharma Oli, was left far behind with only 18,734 votes. The massive victory margin of nearly 50,000 votes marks one of the biggest upsets in Nepal’s electoral history. Other candidates, including Samir Tamang of the Shram Sanskriti Party (9,233 votes), Mandhara Chimariya of the Nepali Congress (1,821 votes), and Laxmi Prasad Sangraula of the RPP (1,536 votes), trailed significantly.

The election saw active voter participation, with 106,568 votes cast out of 163,379 eligible voters. Shah, who famously resigned as the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City to lead the RSP’s national movement, was projected as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. His victory in a constituency held by Oli for decades is being viewed as a decisive turning point in the country’s political landscape.