Nepal’s Balen Shah rides diaspora-backed digital campaign toward potential power
KATHMANDU, March 7 – Nepali rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah is closing in on national power after his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), took an early lead in Nepal’s election vote count, according to officials and party insiders who say a technology-driven campaign backed heavily by the Nepali diaspora helped propel the 35-year-old candidate into contention for prime minister.
Vote counting is ongoing following Nepal’s first national election since youth-led protests in September forced a political reset. Final results for 165 directly elected seats and 110 proportional representation seats are expected by next week, according to the Election Commission Nepal.If current trends hold, Shah —widely known as Balen could capitalise on momentum generated by last year’s protests, transforming grassroots activism and digital mobilisation into a potential governing mandate.
Much of the campaign operation was coordinated from the upper floors of the party’s six-storey headquarters in Kathmandu’s Balaju neighbourhood, according to RSP officials involved in planning the strategy.Six party members who described a tightly structured campaign apparatus combining data analysis, social media outreach and nationwide field operations.The centre of the operation was the Research, Strategy and Documentation Department, run by an 11-member board overseeing about 300 workers across three national teams. These groups worked alongside local campaign teams led by individual candidates across the country.Their responsibilities ranged from crafting electoral messaging and planning rallies to tracking voter feedback from districts across Nepal. Officials said the teams monitored campaign performance on the ground while coordinating online messaging to ensure consistency across regions.
Shah delivered a major campaign speech roughly every eight days, giving party teams time to circulate the content widely across digital platforms before the next event.On the ground, the party organised daily roadshows in five to seven districts and arranged short appearances by Shah in one of Nepal’s seven provinces each day. The visits were designed to maintain national visibility while allowing the candidate to interact directly with voters.“We are overwhelmed by the support and love we received from people on the ground,” said Bigyan Gautam, a member of the party’s national campaign team.Shah’s strong showing contrasts with developments elsewhere in South Asia, where youth-driven political movements have struggled to translate protest momentum into electoral success.In Nepal, however, RSP officials say a combination of digital coordination, diaspora support and targeted outreach helped convert the energy of last year’s protests into a nationwide campaign network that is now reshaping the country’s political landscape.
