Balen Shah defeats Oli in Jhapa-5, securing most votes in parliamentary history

Raju Adhikari

Kathmandu, March 7

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader Balen Shah has defeated CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli in Jhapa Constituency No. 5.

Shah secured a landslide victory with 68,348 votes, the highest number of votes won by a candidate in the history of parliamentary elections in Nepal. Oli managed to garner only 18,734 votes. The victory margin stands at a staggering 49,614 votes.

This marks the second electoral defeat for Oli in Jhapa. His first defeat was in 2008, when he lost to Bishwadeep Lingden of the then CPN-Maoist in the first Constituent Assembly election. After nearly two decades of dominance, where it was often quipped that "even a shoe fielded by the UML would win in Jhapa-5," Oli faced his toughest challenge yet.

The pressure was evident throughout the campaign; for the first time, Oli was seen conducting door-to-door campaigns and visiting small clusters to address voter grievances. However, those efforts were not enough to stop the "Bell" wave led by Balen Shah.