Balen Shah frontrunner for Nepal Prime Minister after 2026 election

Exam-focused facts from the 8 March 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen, is contesting for the post of prime minister after serving three years as the mayor of Kathmandu.
He resigned as Kathmandu's mayor in January to contest the Jhapa 5 seat in the Nepal elections 2026.
Balen Shah is 35 years old and is seen as the frontrunner for the prime minister’s post.
His party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), finished fourth in the 2022 general election and was ahead in 38 seats as per initial trends.
The RSP has promised to create 1.2 million jobs, curb forced migration, raise Nepal’s per capita income from $1,447 to $3,000, and double the country’s GDP to $100 billion within five years.
Balen Shah gained fame as a rapper; his 2020 track 'Balidan' has over 11 million YouTube views.
He pursued a master’s degree in structural engineering at Visvesvaraya Technological University in Karnataka.