Balendra Shah sworn in as Nepal’s youngest prime minister

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s youngest prime minister took the oath of office Friday after his party won a landslide victory in elections earlier this month, and following a youth-led uprising that toppled the government in September.

Balendra Shah was appointed prime minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel Friday after his Rastriya Swatantra Party won nearly two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in the March 5 polls.

Shah, the 35-year-old political outsider widely known as Balen, will lead a government tasked with navigating deep public frustration with Nepal’s established parties, who were widely blamed by voters for corruption and chronic political instability.

Another 15 members of the new Cabinet were also sworn in an elaborate ceremony that included Hindu rituals, such as the “shankhnaad” or blowing of conches, and religious chanting by Hindu priests and Buddhist lamas.

Army bands played tunes and officials and diplomats lined up to greet the new leader, as hundreds of his supporters cheered outside the presidential residence and the prime minister’s office in the heart of Kathmandu.

The timing of Shah’s oath taking — at 12:34 p.m. on the day when the Himalayan nation is celebrating Ram Navami — was seen as an auspicious time by Hindu priests based on astrological calculations. It also fits the “1-2-3-4” numerological pattern. Shah later on Friday entered his new office at 14:15 p.m. which also fits a “14-15” pattern. Hindu priests consider such numerical patterns as auspicious as well.

Religion and astrology play a big role in Nepal, which is more than 80% Hindu and where people begin new work, get married and hold religious rituals according to auspicious times.

Shah was born in the capital Kathmandu but his family comes from the Hindu-dominated Terai region of Nepal, near the border with India.

A structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming Kathmandu’s mayor, he leads the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which won about two-thirds of the 275 seats in the bicameral Parliament’s powerful lower House of Representatives.

Shah emerged as a prominent voice during the bloody youth-led uprising in September that toppled the government in the nation of 30 million people, a wave of unrest that left dozens dead.

Although he didn’t directly participate in the protests, Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z demonstrators who led the movement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shah with a message on X.

“Your appointment reflects the trust reposed in your leadership by the people of Nepal,” Modi said. “I look forward to working closely with you to take India-Nepal friendship and cooperation to even greater heights for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.”