Balen Shah Announced To Form A New Political Party In 2027? No, Viral Video Is Misleading

Claim
Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah announced to form a new party in 2084 BS (2027 AD).
Fact
Viral video shows an old interview of Balen Shah from April 2022 before his election as KMC mayor.

A 55-second clip of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) mayor Balendra Shah allegedly announcing that he is going to form a new political party for the 2084 BS  (2027 AD) election has gone viral on TikTok.

Balendra Shah, an independent candidate, won the mayoral race of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City in the local polls held on May 13, 2022 by garnering 61,767.

TikTok user @durgesh.thapa.official posted a video showing an interview of KMC mayor Balen Shah. Text superimposed on the video reads, “I am forming a new party in 2084 BS [2027 AD].” In the interview, Balen is heard saying, “It is our belief that the person should be a good manager, and that person should be aloof from politics.” And another person is heard asking a question in the background, “That is fine, but you must have understood the challenges to your words and thoughts. In the previous elections, new faces like Ranju Darshana and Rabindra Mishara also showed concerns and worked hard and gained support in their favours as well. You have been compared with them. You might be aware about it from social media. So what plans do you have to ensure your victory?”

 The video posted on August 18 has garnered 8838 likes, 212 users have shared it and 386 people have commented on it.

The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.

Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.

Fact Check /Verification

To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker searched for news related to Balen Shah’s decision to form a new political party by using relevant keywords both in Nepali and English. The search didn’t yield any credible results. We also checked the social media pages of Balen Shah to see if he has ever announced forming a new political party.

However, we found an interview, dated July 11, 2023, published on Shilapatra in which Balen clearly stated that he had received the people’s mandate to run the metropolitan city. “So, I need to head KMC for the next four years in a systematic and effective manner. And it is wrong to think anything beyond that,” the interview quoted him.

Further, we took several key frames from the viral video and ran reverse searches on Google. The searches led us to a video, dated April 6, 2022, posted on the verified Facebook page of Balen Shah, resembling the viral clip. On checking the video, we found that the footage from 4.03-minute exactly matched the viral clip, thereby indicating that the viral clip is from April 2022 when Balen was running for the post of KMC mayor.

Thus, our findings clearly indicated that Balen Shah has not announced to form a new political party as of now and the viral clip is old and misleading.

Conclusion

No, KMC mayor Balen Shah has not announced to form a new political party aiming for 2084 BS when the country will go for another general election. An old interview of Balen Shah is being shared with a speculative caption laid on top. Thus, the claim is misleading.

Result: Misleading

 Sources
Balen Shah /Facebook , April 6, 2022
Shilapatra , July 11, 2023

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