“Chupchap Ghanti Chaap! Vote for the bell symbol, quietly.”
That was the message carried by workers and supporters of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) in Jhapa-5, a rural constituency over 400-km from Kathmandu bordering West Bengal and Bihar.
This is no ordinary constituency, being the long-time bastion of KP Sharma Oli, former prime minister of the CPN(UML) government that was swept out during the GenZ protest in September 2025.
Balendra Shah, reportedly at the insistence of various GenZ activists, opted to fight from Jhapa-5, challenging the lion in his own den so to speak. If he beats the lion on voting day March 5th, Balen makes history. If the lion loses, he can kiss his political career goodbye. High stakes for both.
“Our public rallies are never advertised,” said Shubhash,” a young techie based in Germany who came down to Nepal to help RSP leader Balen Shah in this election.
“It explains why we never tell the public in advance about our rallies,” he said, “we don’t wish to provoke them. So far it has gone well with no violence and we are hoping it continues to be so.”
The number of RSP workers at this rally through small hamlets in rural Jhapa-5, did not exceed 20 at any point. Many were young college students, some like Shubhash are working overseas, and there were others who just wanted to see political change, an end to endemic corruption.
Some appeared eager at the prospect of a political career if the RSP won. It’s not clear what talent or experience they could bring in the event of an RSP victory. The business of government is serious business, as was visible during the GenZ uprising, and the failure of Nepal’s political class on multiple fronts holds a grim message.
The RSP organisationally is small and with limited resources, a young worker confirmed. But others said Shah was bringing in people from other parties, from the private sector and even ex-government officials with administrative experience.
A businessman from Bhadrapur, a prosperous town in Jhapa district, said Balen had roped in Swarnim Wagle, former UNDP chief economic adviser, as his finance minister. Doubtless there would be others.
A word about Oli’s fight back: it’s not visible. On the drive from Bhadrapur to Jhapa, there was one rally by the CPN. The word is CPN candidates do not want Oli to campaign for them. It explains the few posters and cut-outs of him.
There are no opinion polls to get a sense of the public standing of the candidates. But a senior Nepali journalist in Jhapa-5 said Shah was leading in the popularity stakes, and that Oli was not as active in his constituency as he used to be
The public appeared carefully neutral although the RSP workers claimed the party had their support. Over to polling day.
