Oath Ceremony: Balendra Shah will be the 47th Prime Minister of Nepal, oath ceremony took place as per Hindu customs.
Kathmandu. Six months after the K P Sharma Oli-led government was ousted from power due to ‘Gen Z’ protests in Nepal, Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ was sworn in as the democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal on Friday. The 35-year-old rapper-turned-leader of Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) took oath at the ‘auspicious time’ of 12.34 pm at the President’s Office at Sheetal Niwas.
Balen is the youngest leader to hold the post of Prime Minister of Nepal and is also the first person from the Madhesh region to hold the top executive position. He was appointed as the 47th Prime Minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday in accordance with Article 76 (1) of the Constitution. Balen is the first democratically elected prime minister to take oath after the coalition government led by former Prime Minister Oli was ousted from power in September last year.
Youth-led ‘Gen-Z’ protests against corruption, nepotism and ban on social media turned violent, leading to the ouster of the Oli government. Balen’s swearing-in ceremony witnessed a unique confluence of Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions. Elaborate religious rituals were performed at the ceremony.
oath ceremony amid religious rituals
During this, seven Brahmins blew conch shells, 108 Hindu Batukas or young Brahmins chanted Vedic mantras or recited Swasti and 107 Lamas recited Mangal Vachan or Buddhist scriptures. Sources said Balen will probably form a small cabinet of 15 to 18 ministers. In the general elections held on March 5, the former mayor of Kathmandu had defeated Oli by a huge margin from Jhapa-5 constituency. RSP achieved a massive victory in the elections by winning 182 out of total 275 seats in the House of Representatives.
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