India congratulates Nepal rapper, tipped to be next PM
India's prime minister on Monday congratulated Nepal's centrist RSP party leaders for their election win, with rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah tipped to lead the Himalayan nation.
The 5 March parliamentary vote was the first since deadly September 2025 youth anti-corruption protests toppled the government in Kathmandu.
Counting continues, but the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is set for a landslide win, according to declared results and election commission trends.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday that he had had "warm telephone conversations" with Shah, as well as RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane.
Modi said he had "congratulated both leaders on their electoral victories and RSP's resounding success in the Nepal elections", a statement read.
Elections chose a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, with 165 seats chosen directly, and 110 by a proportional representation vote.
In direct elections, RSP has won 125 of the 165, with two seats left to count, as of Monday evening.
In the proportional representation vote, RSP has the biggest share, with nearly half of votes according to partial tallies, but with counting ongoing.
Election officials says the final results could take several days.
But if results reflect the current tally, RSP will have secured a landslide victory.
Landlocked Nepal is sandwiched between giant neighbours India and China.
India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal as a traditional ally, with open borders along the plains.
Nepal's largest trading partner is India, accounting for 63 per cent of imports, or $8.6 billion, followed by China at 13 per cent, or $1.8 billion, according to World Bank figures.
Modi said he had offered his "best wishes for their forthcoming new government and India's commitment to work with them for mutual prosperity, progress and well-being of our two countries", the statement read.
"I am confident that with our joint endeavours, India and Nepal relations will scale new heights in the years ahead," he added.
Shah himself defeated veteran four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli -- whose Marxist-led government was ousted in the violence last year -- in his own seat.
His victory over the 74-year-old Oli, and his rise from the capital's mayor to expected prime minister, caps a bold gamble and marks one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.
The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy.
The first-time parliamentary lawmaker Shah toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted "Balen" -- as he is better known.
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, elected in February in the first polls since a 2024 uprising toppled the autocratic government in his nation, on Monday offered his "congratulations to the government and the people of Nepal on the successful and peaceful parliamentary elections".