Cabinet Shrestha of Agni Group and investor-slash-mentor was listening to a pitch recently from a bead shop owner from Chitwan on Himalaya TV’s new hit reality show Shark Tank Nepal. Shrestha liked what he heard, and offered Sandhya Gaire Poudel of Sandhya Pote House Rs2 million for 35% equity plus profit with an exit after three years. She had taught herself to make traditional Nepali glass bead necklaces, starting with just Rs5,000 and selling them straight to married women through TikTok. She has trained 5,000 women in necklace making, and with the Rs 2 million investment can expand to take bigger orders all over Nepal. “So after three years, I give you back 20 lakh?” asked Paudel. Cabinet Shrestha laughed and replied: “20 lakh plus profit, म त ब्यापारी हो नि.” Cabinet Shreshta handles the Mahindra dealership and has his hand in many other businesses. Paudel gleefully accepted the Rs2 million offer, and there was applause from the studio audience. Shark Tank Nepal, a franchise reality show, was first launched in Japan in 2001 as ‘Tigers of Money’ and has since been adapted in 54 countries under various names. Entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of investors, who grill them about the details of their venture before deciding whether or not to extend deals for stakes in the company. This is the first season with 20 episodes of the show in Nepal, each an hour-and-a-half long on Wednesdays and Thursdays on Himalaya TV, and will soon also be streamed on its YouTube Channel. Besides Shrestha, the four other sharks are: Hem Raj Dhakal of IME Group, Ritu Singh Vaidya of VOITH Group, Anand Bagaria of Nimbus, and Saurabh Jyoti of the Padma Jyoti Group of Companies. It is gripping television because the audience does not know which pitch will be successful. It is also educational because it shows what entrepreneurship is all about — all one needs is an idea that flies. But there is a larger message that Shark Tank Nepal is broadcasting: that not everyone is hell bent on leaving the country. “Its a step in the right direction, and a breath of fresh air,” says Ashutosh Tiwari, an entrepreneurship consultant himself. “The businesses are all different: their age, caste, gender, ethnicity, where they were born or raised in Nepal, what they studied (or didn’t study), and what work they’ve done.” He continues, “It also shows on national tv the important skill of having to persuade absolute strangers to invest in you. Business plans and advising events is great, but the real help for entrepreneurs comes from the exchange of other people’s cold hard cash that they are accountable for.” Social media is also a major player in the show. Not only as a medium to promote Shark Tank, with behind-the-scenes and meet-the-shark type content but also as a place where a lot of the businesses being pitched sell their goods. Most of the business ideas are related to tech, food and beverage, or clothing and skincare, and many of the entrepreneurs are women. Some of the more interesting pitches include a dehydrated carrot cake, a completely organic and bio-degradable skincare brand, and a couple who turned interior design careers into a booming furniture business. One of the biggest deals accepted was Hem Raj Dhakal’s decision to invest Rs60 million in the tech company Veda which started off as a simple notification app facilitating communication between schools and parents, and grew into an international company that provides complete employee resources for schools including payroll and analytics for student performance data.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250724130728_cfd2ca117499c0613fa271970aeac37b6e04c6a9f3194510c6b9253805746dd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250724130728_cfd2ca117499c0613fa271970aeac37b6e04c6a9f3194510c6b9253805746dd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="928" height="594" loading="lazy" alt="Swimming with sharks "><figcaption>Photo: VEDA/ FACEBOOK </figcaption></figure>  “I feel that the sharks have learned as much from the pitchers that they have gotten from us,” says Shrestha. “We’ve learned a lot about markets that we have no expertise in. They have gotten us back in touch about how the younger generation is thinking.” Shrestha notes that Nepalis seem to be naturally gifted at tech, and he likes to see how the pitchers have ‘localised’ or put their own twists on business ideas. The show has received a lot of positive feedback, especially from young Nepalis studying abroad, some of whom may now be thinking of moving back. Despite its popularity, Shark Tank Nepal took a long time to get sponsors and entrepreneurs. Director Simosh Sunuwar, known for his adventure-based reality show Himalayan Roadies, says: “It was hard to get participants who were afraid that their business ideas would get stolen with Nepal’s weak trademark laws. Of the applications we did receive, many did not meet all the criteria. Some were missing balance sheets…” Sunuwar says given how busy the Sharks are, it was difficult to find a stretch of time in which they were all free. “Even when we have them, their phones are going off non-stop,” he says. The solution was a fifteen-day stretch that worked for all Sharks, with multiple sets of clothes for continuity. By the end, the Sharks were shooting up to 15 hours a day, hearing up to 13 pitches a day. While all the shooting is done early, post-production editing for clarity and length is still ongoing as the episodes air. Like all of reality TV, how much of Shark Tank Nepal is scripted? Tiwari thinks that the show feels “slick, a little over scripted at times”. Sunuwar reveals that it is a mix: “As director, I do have to coach the pitchers and the Sharks on how to say certain things, but at the end of the day the Sharks are who they are and they are all very nice and genuine people. My job is to make them comfortable being themselves. They get nervous too.” The Sharks are quick to sniff out iffy businesses, like a skincare brand that was only packaged in Nepal and claimed competitors were misrepresenting ingredients. The Nepali version of Shark Tank may lack the drama of the US version, and the Sharks do not live up to the ruthless reputation of the sea predator. This means it is a feel-good show that Nepali audiences prefer. When bowing out of deals, the Sharks are exceedingly graceful, often offering other sorts of help such as networking or contacts to soften the ‘no’. OLD MONEY Two or more Sharks often go in together on joint deals, maybe because there are only so many ‘shark-level’ entrepreneurs in Nepal. The funniest parts of the show are when Sharks talk ‘candidly’ in between pitches. But more shark-like Sharks would give the show a more dramatic feel. In one case, the Sharks agree to fund a business that repackages sanitary pads for ‘CSR’ purposes, which betrays the premise of the show. Some of the criticism online about the choice of Sharks is that besides Hem Raj Dhakal, they all come from old money families, and had considerable head starts in life and business. “But you can’t fault this right now,” says Tiwari, “there are very few self-made successful entrepreneurs in Nepal, and trading is a legitimate business that has made multimillionaires in the alcohol business in the US, for example.” The friendlier Sharks do make for more deals, though. In the first season, investment from the Sharks totaled Rs400 million, in contrast to Rs420 million in the Indian version of the show and Rs170 million for the Bangladesh version. While the show is pioneering, Tiwari notes that it is more glamorous, and glosses over the gritty parts of business in Nepal. “The reality is that there is a government, and a registrar that you have to visit every year. There are rental taxes, penalties, and fines. Businesses don’t get immediate payments, and are often only profitable on paper, which makes it very difficult for them to operate. The investment that they get from the Sharks will give them some working capital, some oxygen.” Director Sunuwar is grateful for the reception: “It’s great that viewers have welcomed Shark Tank, and I hope it will encourage young entrepreneurs. We’re already getting applications for the next season, and I am excited to make it better, perhaps with different sharks.”

Vishad Raj Onta

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Swimming with Sharks

<figure><img width="1454" height="889" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b950a9c7e80680e06f235jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>About 250 years ago when King Prithivi Narayan Shah made Kathmandu the capital of unified Nepal, he realised that the city had great potential as a business centre, complementing its role as a trading hub. He allowed in businessmen from Rajasthan in India to set up shop and allow entrepreneurship to ferment, a move expanded later by Prime Minister Chandra Shamshere Rana. One reason entrepreneurship did not have deep roots in Nepal was the concept of जागिर, a 10-5 salaried position with job security. That is why the start-up culture took so long to start up and morph in Nepal. The proliferation of, and exposure to the Internet and the recent advent of international private equity firms, accelerators and incubators have paid a pivotal role in making this happen.Since 2017, successive government budgets have mentioned start-ups and allocated money for their establishment, but without clarity and development. This year’s budget was no different: it also set aside Rs1 billion towards building a start-up ecosystem, including concessional loans.  What the previous governments had missed out on, this one seems to have acknowledged: start with defining a start-up. A voluminous document is doing its rounds through the corridors of our bureaucracy for comments from experts. Until they come up with a definition, let us say a start-up is an innovative idea that uses technology to address unmet demand in the market.In the United States, the start-up sector is a $3 trillion business. In South Asia, India leads the pack with over 20,000 Start-ups in operation, of which 100 are unicorns with a combined market cap of $240 billion. Bangladesh, Pakistan and even Afghanistan have understood the importance of this sector to the economy.  Internationally, some 90% of start-ups fail to take off. Nepal has invested in 400 start-ups, all in Kathmandu, and the risk appetite for new investments is limited partly because of the absence of an enabling environment. The cost factor for starting a tech business in Nepal is lower than anywhere else with a constant flow of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/outdated-laws-limited-ecommerce-hold-back-tech-industry%20,3547" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eligible young graduates well versed in English</a> who are relatively computer literate. The bandwidth for connectivity is getting better. It is an untapped market, an imitation of international successes for local markets can be implemented, and the population is young, and growing.There are challenges with the lack of legal and policy environment posing the greatest risk. Ideas are the premise of any start-up. Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is the most important legal recourse for safeguarding those ideas, which in Nepal remains a draft and has been in discussion for quite some time.The current law was formulated in 1964, and does not address developments that have occurred worldwide since then. A lawyer recently remarked that when he tried to register a trademark for poultry feed, the application was denied because a tobacco company had already registered it. Thankfully, the Supreme Court gave a verdict on the Kansai Nerolac case a few years ago, which protected trademarks. Still, laws need to reflect international best practices for this sector to operate. Financing start-ups is also a great hurdle. Banks are reluctant and risk averse to lend without collateral. If a loan is secured it is not nearly enough to meet the requirement and equity is difficult to come by. The ones who have demonstrated that they have the ability to serve a niche market and can show potential to scale up have been successful to secure equity financing.  The start-up industry is evolving despite the lack of an enabling environment.  The resilience shown by these entrepreneurs has steadily improved, and the appetite to invest in them is gaining traction. Examples are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/three-toots-for-tootle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ride sharing apps</a> that made the government change its policy, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-budding-e-commerce-ecosystem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">e-commerce platforms</a> that have engaged with the government to facilitate the sector, and companies that realigned business plans to accommodate government policies. A cloud service provider had to create a hybrid model because government officials could not comprehend what it was, and that data could be secure. They needed to see actual physical infrastructure.  But <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Cross-Cutting/Start-ups-need-staying-power,439" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">start-ups are resilient</a>, and they will continue to compel the authorities to accommodate them as they continue to grow. They have adapted to the situation and have introduced internal safeguards to secure their ideas in a lax IPR environment.  Some are ensuring strict non-disclosure agreements, developing in-house products knowing that there will be disrupters in the market six months down the road and, focussing on networks as much as focussing on products. The government’s new regulations will hopefully put it in a facilitating role to create a platform for ideation to grow with the help of mentors from academia and the private sector. Nepal’s start-ups are to stay, and with the right legal and regulatory framework in place, will thrive. One day there will be a Nepali unicorn in the making.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/also-keeping-financially-healthy-in-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Siddhant Pandey</a> is Chairman and CEO of <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://bo2.com.np" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Oxygen Pvt Ltd (BO2).</a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b950d9c7e80680e06f236jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="90" height="109">

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Giving start-ups a head start

<figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141144/636517629c7e80680e02c273jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: Indian Embassy</figcaption></figure>The final day of International Entrepreneurship Conclave Connect-IN on 24 March at the Radisson in Kathmandu saw more than 300 participants from India and Nepal discussing the start-up market in both countries.Seven CEOs and investors from India and eight from Nepal took part in the day-long conference which was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri, who said he was upbeat about the budding entrepreneurial business climate of Nepal and the scope of connecting it with India.Chief Guest Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada underlined the importance of innovation, and said: “As Nepal is slowly transitioning towards stable governance, entrepreneurial conclave such as this is vital to efficiently utilise resources towards the goal of sustainable development.”The sessions were divided into storytelling, mentorship, panel discussions and investment pitch during which speakers from India and Nepal shared their personal stories connecting their experience with the  present business ecosystem in and between the two countries.Ritu Marya, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Media expressed how franchising could connect the two neighbouring countries saying, “To cater to the budding demand in tourism, Nepal can unlock more opportunities than it has now through franchising, and India is always willing to extend its assistance.”Over 30 Nepali start-ups had pitched innovative business ideas among which five made it to the final--Metro Tarkari, Furniture Hub, Kullabs, My Earth Eco Bags and Fohor Bata Mohor.The organisers promise to conduct follow up activities to connect entrepreneurs from the two countries.

India-Nepal start-ups

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516fb9c7e80680e02c249jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1210"/>People often ask me how the United States compares with Nepal. Here are five things that are uniquely funny about my country. If you don't take these with a sense of humour, it may be hard to rationalise the way things are here.1 Not-for-profit organisations pay more than the for-profit sector. And the pay is lower in the US, compared to Nepal. As long as not-for-profit crowds out the employment sector by paying more, for-profit can never compete or really develop. After all, who can compete with what looks like a never-ending supply of free money? Besides, if the majority of people are focusing on ‘development’ which most of the time is supposed to centre on the bottom of the pyramid, who is going to focus on the middle class? (A strong middle class would probably have a much more positive effect on the BoP and quality of living.)2 Like in Silicon Valley, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur in Kathmandu Valley. Everybody wants to make it big. The only unfortunate part is, most of the kids in urban areas don’t really get a job until they are well out of their college or university years (excluding some amazing kids who are working and paying their own bills while studying). If most people want to be <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/business-of-entrepreneurship-in-nepal,3362">entrepreneurs</a> without ever having worked for someone and are mostly still dependent on their parents’ allowances, who will they hire to work on their idea? It must be quite an expensive on the job learning method. I’ve worked with few tech companies – some quite large, some small: the turnover rate is quite astounding. I still have very little clue as to what is driving the turnover rate to be so high. And large tech companies pay more than the not-for-profit sectors even at the entry level.3 Certificates: All students seem to be driven by the need to get a certificate. Most people who have worked in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/12/06/carpooling-in-kathmandu/">my social initiatives</a> have probably found to their dismay that I don’t give out certificates. I just tell them that the work they will do is worth their time and if I have funding, they get some allowance. Are the certificates so important when one applies for a job or higher education? What is driving this funny need for certificates?4 Internships need a new name or do they? I am not sure if it is because this term has been over abused in Nepal as an excuse for free labour, or if students have been properly introduced to the concept of apprenticeship. A senior mechanical engineer friend with ten years of work experience at Mitsubishi, went to hire interns from a notable Kathmandu college for his project. It turns out the students wanted Rs 2 lakh per month salary to intern with him. I am glad he eventually shared his first internship experience with the students.But in Europe when he went to intern with another car company, he had to pay for the program because he would be gaining more than he would be giving.Apprenticeships / internships mean you value what the person has to teach and you really ask for that person’s time.I used to run lunch orders for my desk in my first job. That is basically going to each person and saying can I order lunch for you? Pick it up and deliver it to you, and collect cash from you and pay the restaurant, while you work. And in exchange, maybe after about a month of doing that for you, you will stay for 10 more minutes and show me that cool excel function that would save me four hours. Running lunch orders was the easiest thing I could do to get people to give me their 10 minutes. And this was the way all the first years got by to learn the ropes of the job.This was a productive way of learning, because in those 10 minutes, I would be most attentive as I had already put in 30 minutes each day for a month or more to earn those 10 minutes.5 The number of conferences on entrepreneurship, women empowerment and development, WOW! What is even more amazing is finding the same set of speakers, CEOs and social leaders, or same set of aspiring entrepreneurs attending most of the events. How do these people work on their startups which they are so passionate about and still manage to attend the endless events? Is it for networking, for business sales, another opportune moment to catch a potential subscriber or a buyer?Whatever the reason may be, hats off to the amazing time management skills folks have here.Sumana Shrestha is an aspiring Kathmandu-based entrepreneur and used to be with Boston Consulting Group and a financial trader at Citigroup. She writes this column, To The Point in Nepali Times every fortnight.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/12/06/carpooling-in-kathmandu/">Carpooling in Kathmandu</a>,  Sahina Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/business-of-entrepreneurship-in-nepal,3362">The business of entrepreneurship</a> , Triveni Chand and Pankaj Parajuli

Sumana Shrestha

Five 'funny' things about Nepal

Nepali Congress (NC) President Gagan Thapa's candidacy in Sarlahi-4 has thrust this Madhes constituency into rare national focus. If Thapa wins and the NC emerges as the largest party, Sarlahi-4 will send Nepal's next prime minister to Parliament. But if he does not, Nepal’s grand old party will face the next years in the opposition to fight another day. There is a troubling paradox in Sarlahi-4 where the district bordering the Indian state of Bihar has been a battleground for national politicians with fierce electoral competition, all while remaining one of the region's most underserved and underdeveloped constituencies.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260305140344_069cbbc11e971a851b444866dee57f760c0cc611ed40bdf96c627e343e3c0485.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260305140344_069cbbc11e971a851b444866dee57f760c0cc611ed40bdf96c627e343e3c0485" data-rendition-name="original" width="1802" height="1276" loading="lazy" alt="Sarlahi-4 voting"> <figcaption>Photo: MADHES PAHARA MEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  Ever since Mahant Thakur split from NC in 2008 to form the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, the district has seen rotating political alliances and fragmented votes. Yet, despite 18 years of candidates promising change irrigation schemes remain incomplete, market access for farmers has not improved, unemployment is high.&nbsp; On election day, voters here marked their ballots with fingers stained by dye from the Holi festival the day before. The road leading to Barathawa Bazar was deserted for the most part, except for some youth riding in motorcycles. This is where the high-profile contest between Gagan Thapa and RSP nominee Amresh Singh is being staged. Among the other aspirants is 27-year-old UML candidate Amnish Yadav, the son of former MP Shiv Pujan Yadav. The Yadavs are a political family with considerable caste influence in the constituency. In 2022 Yadav’s daughter Madhumala Yadav received over 14,000 votes here, ranking third overall. Yadav was voted MP from the Maoist party, but defected to the UML this time. His other son is the chair of Sarlahi’s Ramnagar Rural Municipality. Sarhali-4 has 121,012 voters, and the Yadav is banking on the 27,000-strong Yadav vote bank. Sarlahi-4 voter Avishek Sah told us he wanted his vote to go to a young nominee and not someone who has been MP thrice already, like Amresh Singh. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260305140344_527c5c2f9aa6a6c7e3bbdfbfe79fdafb0a0b56a62427e9ced86b924c6c563b10.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260305140344_527c5c2f9aa6a6c7e3bbdfbfe79fdafb0a0b56a62427e9ced86b924c6c563b10" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Sarlahi-4 voting"> <figcaption>Photo: AYUSHA CHALISE</figcaption> </figure>  To make local loyalties even more complicated, Amnish Yadav’s uncle, Harinder Yadav is an active NC member and walked side by side with Gagan Thapa during his door-to-door campaigns.&nbsp; The NC is betting on Thapa getting over 60% of the total votes. Amresh Singh’s tally could be limited to 10,000 votes — that too because of the nationwide RSP wave, and the popularity of its prime ministerial hopeful Balendra (Balen) Shah. “Amresh Singh lost his appeal when he played victim after he was denied a ticket by the NC in 2022,” Harinder Yadav says. Voters we spoke to here agreed with this assessment that Singh did not do much for the district once he got elected in the past, and being a part of the RSP seems to be his biggest asset. “The only reason I voted for Amresh Singh is because Balen is in RSP,” local voter Mahendra Gupta from Barathawa. &nbsp;“This is his last chance to return the people’s trust.”&nbsp; Gupta is aware of the institutional presence of the NC here. The party received the most votes in 2022 local elections, adding that the candidacy of someone as high-profile as Thapa is a positive sign for Sarlahi-4.&nbsp; Other voters like Ruby Gupta are rooting for both the NC and the RSP. “I will vote for Gagan and for Balen,” she says, adding that her FPTP vote will go to Thapa while her PR ballot would be for the RSP. RSP supporters are confident that their candidate will win big because even though many voters may not have openly voiced their support they still voted for the party and candidate. The Balen Wave was not limited to RSP voters, but also to UML candidate Yadav, who said in a gathering that he will be “the voters Balen” if they elect him. He touted his party’s track record in government, and largely campaigned on administrative efficiency, infrastructural expansion, and local service delivery. Amresh Singh ran on the RSP’s anti-establishment brand, promising to fight corruption, challenge traditional party politics, improve basic services such as education, health, jobs, and infrastructure, while pushing for stronger representation and development for Madhes.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260305140344_982df01801fa7d3532ca0555ecb8a0756e3223be3d93650e08ca82a312dc2ebd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260305140344_982df01801fa7d3532ca0555ecb8a0756e3223be3d93650e08ca82a312dc2ebd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Sarlahi-4 voting"> <figcaption>Photo:AYUSHA CHALISE</figcaption> </figure>  Singh’s rivalry with his NC competitor goes beyond the ballot— he allegedly blames Thapa for being denied the NC ticket in 2022, which led him to win the election from Sarlahi-4 as an independent. &nbsp; For his part, Gagan Thapa focused on a more pragmatic development agenda that includes upgrading roads and irrigation, improving schools and hospitals, supporting farmers, and creating employment opportunities with improved governance at the centre. He also promised to build an engineering college in the constituency.&nbsp; Thapa also promoted his own anti-establishment image within the NC, repeatedly reminding voters on the campaign trail that he represents the aspirations of the youth.&nbsp; On Thursday, as voting progressed, there were violent disruptions in two centres where voting was briefly halted. But Sarlahi district police spokesperson Saroj Rai told Nepali Times that there were no major problems. Police in collaboration with the Nepal Army sent the ballot papers to the district’s counting stations, where the votes are expected to be tallied through the night and the winner announced Friday morning.

Sarlahi-4 nervously watches ballot count

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Nepal election live results

As this report is uploaded, the latest results in Nepal’s election show that the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is headed for an even bigger sweep than most had predicted.
The RSP was leading by large margins in 49 of 165 constituencies, &nbsp;with the UML, NC and NCP trailing far behind. Prominent political figures from the old parties like K P Oli, Minwndra Prasad Rijal, Ishwar Pokhrel, Bishnu Prasad Poudel, Bimalendra Nidhi all seem headed for defeat.
It does look like the RSP’s bell election symbol is ringing right across Nepal — from cities to the remotest districts in the mountains and plains. The party’s blue colour is sweeping the land.
The Nepali people seem to have sent a clear message that they were throughly dissatisfied with the chronic failure of the three main parties to work in the national interest to create jobs and deliver development. It was also an expression of lingering outrage over the the 8 September massacre outside Parliament. &nbsp;
It now looks almost certain that Balendra Shah will get to be Nepal’s next, and youngest, prime minister. Hopefully he will be leading a cabinet of competent and honest technocrats. It remains to seen how the power equation between Shah and the RSP’s leader, Rabi Lamichhane will play out.
Lamichhane is out of jail on bail for fraud cases which he has called political vendetta by the previous regime. Both he and Shah are charismatic and ambitious. Their working relationship will determine Nepal's political stability and whether it can avoid the political cronyism of the past.
This election was not just about casting votes. It was about standing up to principles and a value system, and respecting the hopes and aspirations of Nepal’s youth. It to push for transparent government and against impunity — including for the gunning down of young Nepalis in cold blood.
<div class="embed-block"><iframe src="https://election-geo-dashboard.pages.dev/" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"> </iframe>Live election results as winners of candidates are announced.</div>
CAN DO MAN
Shah got mixed reviews as mayor. He was impulsive and ad hoc, but most people inKathmandu and beyond liked his can-do attitude and unconventional style which stood in sharp contract to the legacy leaders. Over his three year mayorship he showed more maturity and planning capacity.&nbsp;
But he always ran headlong into opposition from the federal government over his urban planning and other initiatives to make Kathmandu more liveable. Coming from a civil and structural engineering background, he was involved in building low-cost housing after the 2015 earthquake.
But his public persona is more tied to his irreverent rap lyrics that stood up for the marginalised underprivileged in society, while exposing the high-handedness and apathy of the state. But this also exposed contradictions because he also used his own municipal guards to beat and chase away street vendors and squatters.
But there is no doubt that a combination of the sharp messaging in his rap videos amplified by the algorithms of social media ignited Nepal’s youth to rise up. It was more about optics and emotion than policy and strategy.
He studied Kathmandu district for five years, visiting experts in every field before announcing his independent candidacy for mayor in 2022. Many like me in his own constitunecy did not know who he was and where he came from.
He is a year younger than my architect son, and I saw in him a reflection of my own son’s commitment to serving the nation. I voted for him to be mayor despite his sometimes erratic behaviour, which could be attributed to his youth.
The best sign of his strategic planning, which unsettled septuagenarian and octogenarian politicians, is the he did not grab the first easy option of becoming prime minister in September when GenZ activists offered him the post.&nbsp;
Joining RSP was a masterstroke, as was his challenge to Oli in Jhapa to project national branding. He needed a party platform and Lamichhane needed a popular prime ministerial persona since he himself could not hold the post.
Shah has shown the capacity to take risks when he believes the value justifies the action for the country. Now, he will have to show more strategic thinking on a national scale, as well as understand the delicate geopolitics of Nepal.&nbsp;
He must rise above the kind of crude social media posts that earned him followers on X, but did nothing to erase his erratic and impulsive image.&nbsp;
Some assume that behind his trademark RayBan shades is a closet dictator, and his past remarks about Hitler are still up on social media. He has in the past shown impatience with criticism, unleashing supporters on social media to troll detractors.&nbsp;
Even so, the public seems willing to place their hope on an educated young man with integrity and a proven record for planning at the helm. By tomorrow it will be clear whether the hope Nepalis have held has been fulfilled, and the coming years will show if the RSP will lead Nepalis to a better future.
The voters seem to have shown the door even to the NC despite the fact that under Gagan Thapa, the party had turned a new leaf. A strong government under Prime Minister Balendra Shah heading a carefully selected cabinet and a strong opposition of the NC, UML and other parties for check and balance may be just what we need for a stable Nepal.&nbsp;
Nepalis have collectively always shown maturity in elections. This time they have given a resounding endorsement for integrity and for good governance.

Bells ring all over Nepal

After Thursday’s election, Nepalis are in a wait-and-watch mode. The Election Commission says counting ballot papers will be expedited this time, and the results for the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) will start being declared within days. In 2022, it took three weeks for the final results to be tallied.&nbsp;
But winning an election is only half the challenge for the parties, forming a government under parliamentary politics is like a complicated mathematical equation.&nbsp;
In 2022, the Nepali Congress (NC) emerged as the biggest party, winning 89 seats. But the UML with 78 seats and the Maoists with 32 formed a minority government. In fact, Sher Bahadur Deuba did not become PM then despite leading the biggest party in Parliament.
This time, there is an unmistakeable Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) wave led by its prime ministerial candidate, Balendra Shah. Besides his own popularity, Shah represents change which most Nepalis are clamouring for after decades of corrupt and feckless coalitions that did not deliver.&nbsp;
The past months of campaigning has seen massive youth engagement on social media through memes, AI clips, and viral images. Digital content that appeals to emotion rather than policy debate between candidates shape electoral outcomes in Nepal and elsewhere. &nbsp;
Shah represents GenZ aspirations, and was their candidate for prime minister. It was only when he declined that Sushila Karki was nominated. None of the political parties in the recent past -- new, old, or revolutionary — have won enough seats to go it alone.&nbsp;
The most recent majority government was formed by the short-lived Communist Party of Nepal after the UML-Maoist merger in 2022. But that rare two-thirds majority collapsed after a power struggle between K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The only party to have won a majority was the NC in the 1991 and 1999 elections. But it is near impossible for it to repeat this success now, even with Gagan Thapa's rebranding of the party.&nbsp;
We have compiled these possible scenarios for election outcome in order of likelihood:
RSP gets a majority
RSP hits the magic 138 to form a government entirely on its own. Balendra Shah wins Jhapa-5, and becomes the new prime minister at 35, the youngest ever to hold the office in Nepal. But danger lurks: there could be a personality clash between Shah and Lamichhane who are both equally ambitious. History could repeat itself.&nbsp;
RSP wins but does not get a majority
RSP is likely to sweep the most votes, but what if it does not secure enough seats for a majority? It would need a coalition partner and Nepali Communist Party (NCP) under Pushpa Kamal Dahal could fit the bill, but only if it has the numbers. The RSP is not likely to team up with the UML or NC.
The NCP is relatively untainted by the 8 September events, and also has former UML defectors like Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bhim Rawal who could bag their rural vote banks. After all, there are no permanent foes in politics. If the royalist RPP and Tarai-based Janata Samajwadi have enough seats, those could be options for the RSP. &nbsp;
NC is second
The NC under the new leadership of Gagan Thapa could become the second biggest force and form a government with RSP in a power-sharing deal with Shah. This would be the most stable scenario since the RSP and NC have competent and idealistic young technocrats. Thapa himself embodies a strong combination of both old and new politics to navigate the system for more efficient government. But then Thapa and the RSP's Rabi Lamichhane do not get along.
NC and NCP form a majority
If the NC becomes the largest party but not by a big margin, it could join up with the NCP and Ujyalo. Teaming up with the UML would likely face backlash with the party and outside. If Gagan Thapa becomes prime minister he will face internal pressure from both Deuba loyalists. Same old story.
Minority coalition of NC, UML and NCP
RSP becomes the first party but does not get a majority, paving the way for the three legacy parties to cobble together a minority government. While this is possible in Nepal’s parliamentary system, such a scenario is likely to lead to more instability and dissatisfaction among young Nepalis demanding change, and even trigger street unrest. &nbsp;

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