Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader and the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Balendra Shah, widely known as Balen, has extended his lead over former prime minister KP Sharma Oli in Jhapa-5.

According to the latest vote count, Shah has secured 39,284 votes, while UML chair Oli trails with 10,293 votes. Shram Sanskriti Party’s Samir Tamang is third with 6,324 votes, followed by Nepali Congress’ Mandhara Chimariya with 1,096 votes.

Other candidates have garnered only minimal support. Nepali Communist Party’s Ranjit Tamang received 941 votes, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Laxmi Prasad Sangraula secured 861 votes.

The Election Commission reported that 62,100 votes have been counted so far in Jhapa-5, of which 59,551 are valid and 2,549 have been invalidated.