Balendra Shah 'Balen', the rapper-turned-politician who won Kathmandu's 2022 mayoral polls as an independent, has become the face of a generational change, symbolising a break from Nepal's traditional parties. Popular as 'Balen,' the prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) defeated four-time prime minister K P Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal's legacy party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified MarxistLeninist) -- CPN-UML -- by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in Jhapa-5 constituency on Saturday. The 35-year-old engineer was a popular choice to lead the interim government after Gen Z youths toppled the K P Sharma Oli-led coalition government in September last year, following two-day nationwide violent protests against corruption and a ban on social media. But Balen declined then to lead the interim government, saying he would rather head the government by contesting the parliamentary election for a full term. In January, he joined the newly formed Rastri