KATMANDU: Nepal’s newly elected lawmakers met Thursday for the first parliamentary session since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government in September 2025 and left the old parliament building in flames.
Lawmakers, elected in March, met within the new parliament building, with many of the politicians taking their seats for the first time.
That includes the Himalayan nation’s new leader, rapper-turned-politician Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who led the Rastriya Swatantra Party to sweep the polls, winning 182 of the 275 seats, just short of a two-thirds majority.
Shah, 35, was dressed all in black, including his trademark dark sunglasses that he kept on inside the hall.
The prime minister has remained silent publicly since his RSP party won the election, beyond taking the oath as leader and the release of a rap song, where he said that the “strength of unity” was his “national power.” Rabi Lamichhane, president of the RSP, spoke to lawmakers on Thursday.
“The votes we have received are not just of support, but for change ... and I can proudly say we have begun that change,” he said.
“Our work, and the government’s work, will speak,” he said.
Lamichhane asked the opposition to “monitor us 24 hours,” and use their experience to point out their mistakes.
The new parliament is markedly younger compared to the previous government, with nearly 60 directly elected members under the age of 40.
FASTFACTS
• Party of the Himalayan nation’s new leader, rapper-turned-politician Prime Minister Balendra Shah, has swept the polls.
• The deadly September demonstrations began over a brief social media ban but tapped into longstanding fury over corruption and economic hardship.
The deadly September demonstrations began over a brief social media ban but tapped into longstanding fury over corruption and economic hardship. At least 76 people were killed over two days of unrest.
Three high profile arrests — including four-time ex-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli — linked to the unrest have been made so far.
An inquiry commission into the violence had recommended that Oli and ex-Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, as well as the capital Katmandu’s former chief district officer Chhabilal Rijal, be investigated under laws addressing deaths caused by negligence.
Oli, Lekhak and Rijal have denied responsibility for the violence and no charges have been laid.
Separately, Nepal has charged 32 people over a multi-million-dollar insurance scam involving fake helicopter rescues of trekkers, police said Thursday, a long-running racket that has cast a shadow over the country’s vital tourism industry.
The nation attracts thousands of trekkers each year, many walking remote high-altitude trails where emergency airlifts are common and often costly.
But investigators say some operators have for years orchestrated fraudulent evacuations to cash in on insurance payouts.
Police say they uncovered cases in which multiple insurance claims were filed for a single rescue, chartered flights were falsely billed as emergency evacuations and private hospitals issued inflated or fabricated medical invoices.
