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Rock ‘n’ Roll Polls

The March 2026 elections in Nepal will definitely be a litmus test for the Gen-Z movement, with mostly new, but highly controversial, populist, and careerist candidates contesting the elections

By Dr. Pushpa R. Joshi | March 2026

The federal elections in Nepal, set in the spirit of the violent Gen-Z movement, are less than a week away. The traditional political parties and newly formed alternative parties are hustling for their last round of campaigning. In a society with low electoral literacy, last-minute public manipulation greatly influences the overall election outcome. Hence, most candidates are seen exploiting sensitive social issues and prioritizing populist agendas to garner public support. In fact, so far, electoral campaigning has largely focused on public-pleasing agendas and all sorts of flowery promises and commitments by the contestants.

Aspiring contestants from all walks of life have aligned with one or the other political party, irrespective of their principles and objectives. Mayors of certain metropolitan cities and members of the provincial House of Representatives (HoR) have resigned midway in their terms to contest for the federal HoR. Notably, the rapper-turned-Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra Sah, has resigned from his post to join the alternative-claiming Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) with his entourage. Sah is known as one of the main stakeholders in the Gen-Z movement. Over that, scores of journalists, lawyers, actors, social activists, content creators, players, and people enjoying state facilities have abruptly entered politics as if there were no other profession to serve the country. The emergence and proliferation of alternative-claiming political formations, particularly newer parties such as the RSP, Ujyalo Nepal, and the Shram Sanskriti Party, have enabled the political ambitions of careerist and populist individuals to materialize.

At the beginning, there were speculations that the scheduled election might not be held on March 5. Some high-ranking political leaders, including the ousted Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli, were imposed a travel ban. In addition, there was a fear that the cadres of traditional political parties and the supporters of Gen-Z might violently confront each other on the streets. Additionally, multiple writ petitions are pending before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a judicial clarification on the legality of the present government and the dissolution of the HoR.

It is obvious that the current Nepalese government was formed extra-constitutionally through a soft coup d’état, and the subsequent dissolution of the HoR was also unconstitutional. However, the SC is reluctant to entertain such writ petitions on time. It appears the SC has delayed its verdict amid concerns about potential hostile reactions from Gen-Z supporters, particularly because a definitive ruling would entail the reinstatement of the HoR. Only a few days remain for the scheduled elections, and the SC verdict on the legality of these issues will likely be delivered after the elections. On a personal level, judges are, after all, human actors, and the psychological impact of the arson attack on the SC building may continue to affect them. This episode appears to illustrate a troubling instance in which mob pressure overshadows established legal procedures, setting a perplexing precedent for Nepal’s future.


The Gen-Z movement forced the incumbent PM, his council of ministers, and selected leaders of the established political parties to flee and briefly go into hiding. This catapulted prominent, less-known, and unknown individuals from society who were supportive of the Gen-Z movement into statutory power.

The rapper-turned-Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and one of the main stakeholders in the Gen-Z movement, Balendra Sah, has resigned from his post to join the alternative-claiming Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) with his entourage

In addition, the alternative-claiming political party, the RSP, also vehemently supported the movement. Amid the heat of the agitation on September 9, RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane, imprisoned for multiple financial irregularity accusations, forcibly broke free from the prison to claim the largest stake of the Gen-Z movement. However, the tables turned the other way, and Lamichhane was bound to return to prison after a few days. Notably, the inclination of the sitting PM, the Attorney General, and some ministers towards RSP and Rabi Lamichhane clearly hints at RSP’s indirect involvement in fueling the Gen-Z movement. This interpretation is further supported by RSP’s official declaration, which aligns with the spirit of the Gen-Z movement during its unification with the political team of Balendra Sah.

Amid all these complications, the intensity of the electoral contest continues to escalate. With the entry of Balendra Sah into the RSP, he is set to lock horns with the ousted PM KP Sharma Oli in the latter’s constituency in Jhapa-5. This is going to be a litmus test for Sah and the Gen-Z movement, as Oli has been demonized as the main culprit of the atrocities done during the Gen-Z movement. At the beginning, Oli was at the backfoot, but with the heat of the election campaigning, he seems to have regained his pace. The pre-election analysis has forecasted a head-to-head contest; the result might go either way. It should be noted that Jhapa-5 has been Oli’s native constituency for decades, where he enjoys strong public support. Hence, he seems to have a slight upper hand.

The alternative-claiming newly formed parties, particularly the RSP, have showcased aggressive social media campaigning. In addition, their rock-style grand roadshows were huge crowd pullers. These are positive signs for the RSP. However, the recent election results in Bangladesh show that social media following and extravagant roadshows are not always vote-accumulating factors. It would be interesting to see how this trend unfolds in Nepal.

The surprising factor in the election might be the reformed Nepali Congress (NC), the country’s oldest political party. NC was the major coalition partner in the government during the Gen-Z movement, and its octogenarian president, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and his wife, the sitting foreign minister, Aarju Rana Deuba, were brutally assaulted by the protesters. Amid these adversities, the majority of the party’s representatives demanded a special convention to oust President Deuba and other office-bearers with a controversial reputation. The newly elected president, Gagan Thapa, claims to have reformed the party and has vowed to address the sentiments of Gen-Z. NC seems to have nominated mostly new, relatively clean individuals as electoral candidates across all constituencies. Hence, NC is expected to perform well in the elections.

With the political arena increasingly crowded by an almost equal presence of genuine, unblemished, and non-corrupt politicians and careerist or populist actors, responsibility ultimately rests with the electorate to distinguish the former from the latter. All political parties and their candidates appear to prioritize mostly performative appeal over substantive engagement, often to their own advantage. The contest is on, and with mostly new, but highly controversial, populist, and careerist candidates from the Gen-Z outfit, the elections will definitely be a litmus test for the Gen-Z movement.

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