Kathmandu, March 10 As Balendra Shah is set to become Nepal's first Madheshi prime minister, traditional political figures from the region suffered major defeats in the March 5 elections.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which has nominated Shah as its prime ministerial candidate, won almost all the seats in the Madhesh province.
It won 30 out of a total of 32 seats in eight districts – Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa, which border India.
Eleven of those elected to the House from Madhesh are under the age of 40.
Shah had described himself as the son of Madhesh while addressing his first election campaign in Dhanusha.
His ancestral home is in the Mahottari district of the province.
The 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician is set to become the Himalayan nation's first Madhesi prime minister and also the youngest elected executive head.
However, Madheshi stalwarts from traditional parties received a humiliating defeat, according to Election Commission data.
Prominent Madheshi leaders who lost the elections are Rastriya Mukti Party Nepal's President Rajendra Mahato and Mahindra Yadav, leader of Nepali Communist Party, who contested from Sarlahi 2.
Upendra Yadav, chair of Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, who contested from Saptari 3, and Janamat Party's president C K Raut, who contested from Saptari 2, also lost.
While RSP's Rabin Mahato won the election from Sarlahi 2, Mahindra Yadav came second, and Rajendra Yadav came fourth.
Among the remaining two seats in Madhesh, Matrika Yadav of Nepali Communist Party won from Dhanusha 1 by defeating Nepali Congress candidate Ram Paltan Sah, and Mohmad Firdos Alam of Nepali Congress won from Rautahat 2 by defeating Kiran Kumar Shah of Nepali Communist Party.
The RSP, formed in 2022, has won 125 of the 165 seats under direct voting in Nepal's parliamentary polls, as vote counting under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system concluded on Tuesday, putting it in a position to form a majority government.