Balendra Shah, the parliamentary party leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been named the new Prime Minister of Nepal.

According to a statement from the President’s Office, former Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Shah, also known as Balen, was named to the post by President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday in accordance with Article 76(1) of the Constitution.

Shah was chosen as the parliamentary party leader by the RSP on Thursday, after it won a landslide victory in the most recent parliamentary elections with a majority of almost two-thirds, setting the stage for him to become the 47th Prime Minister of the nation.

Accompanied by Hindu rites, Prime Minister Shah will be sworn into office at the President’s Office at 12:34 pm on Friday. According to the scheme, seven conch players will play Shankha Naad, a ceremony thought to guarantee the success of auspicious beginnings.

Other rituals will take place at the same time as he swears the oath. The Ashtamangala, which is seen to be auspicious in both Hindu and Buddhist faiths, will be sung by 16 Buddhist monks, while the Swasti Shanti will be recited by a group of 108 Batuks (Vedic priests).

One of the youngest prime ministers Nepal has ever had was the 35-year-old ex-mayor. The recent elections saw a majority of legislators from younger age groups elected, signaling a generational shift in Nepalese politics.

Shah’s entry into national politics on December 28 of last year is thought to have helped the RSP gain support, making him a well-known person among the younger generation. Shah was announced as the party’s prime ministerial candidate during its election campaign, which lasted for almost four years. In the March 5 parliamentary elections, the party won a resounding victory, capturing 182 out of 275 seats in the House of Representatives.

In eastern Nepal’s Jhapa-5, Shah defeated former Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli by a stunning margin of 49,614 votes, winning 68,348 votes to Oli’s 18,734. Since 1991, this is the most votes any candidate has received in Nepal’s parliamentary elections.

Shah entered politics in 2022, when he won as an independent candidate in the race for mayor of Kathmandu.

Shah was born in Kathmandu on April 27, 1990, to a Madhesi family that placed a high priority on education and culture. He finished his bachelor’s degree in Kathmandu before earning a master’s in structural engineering from India’s Visvesvaraya Technological University.

During his time as mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, his academic training in engineering gave him a useful grasp of infrastructure, urban planning, and public works, which influenced how he ran the city.