Early election trends from Nepal reveal a dramatic RSP takeover, with party chief Rabi Lamichhane notching a massive win in Chitwan-2 by securing 54,402 votes to Nepali Congress’s Meena Kharel’s meager 14,564. This triumph cements his grip on the area, his third victory here in as many contests over three years.
Lamichhane’s rollercoaster ride began with a 2022 entry into parliament from Chitwan. Supreme Court intervention in January 2023 invalidated his citizenship—stemming from using an expired document post-U.S. citizenship abandonment—forcing him to relinquish his seat, home ministry post, and even party leadership momentarily.
He roared back in the April 2023 by-election, bolstering his vote share significantly. Despite shadows from cooperative fraud allegations that landed him in jail until a pre-election court bail, Lamichhane’s star keeps rising. His pact with Balen Shah, the rapper-politico leading against KP Oli in Jhapa-5, has supercharged RSP’s campaign.
With 20 seats in the bag and leads in 95 of 165 direct contests, RSP outpaces old guards Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. Balen Shah’s frontrunner status positions him as a potential record-young PM, embodying Gen-Z aspirations. These results signal deep disillusionment with traditional parties, promising a vibrant, unpredictable future for Nepal’s leadership.