Fact Check: Did President Poudel Demand Monarchy? No, Viral Video Is Misleading

Claim
President Ram Chandra Poudel demanded restoration of the monarchy.
Fact
No, the viral video shows an old clip of President Poudel talking about electoral alliances.

A video claiming to show President Ram Chandra Poudel demanding monarchy is going viral on TikTok.

Nepal abolished its monarchy in 2008 and transitioned to a federal democratic republic. According to the constitution of Nepal, the president serves as the head of state but their role is largely ceremonial.

TikTo user @pyaronepal7 posted a video carrying two frames together. One video shows President Poudel having a conversation with a few people, while the other clip shows a person saying that President Ram Chandra Poudel has been demanding monarchy while occupying the post of President. In the video he says, “President [Ram Chandra Poudel] has been saying that the president has been saying that we need a president instead of president. Friends, please comment your opinion on this.” In the clip showing President Poudel talking with people, Poudel is heard saying, “I don’t need the president. Did I not say no to Girija Prasad Koirala. These are all lies. People like you are spreading it outside.”

Text superimposed on the video reads, “Isn’t the president ashamed of demanding monarchy while occupying the post of president himself? The president demands monarchy.”

The video posted on May 17 has garnered 6670 likes, 654 users have shared it and 518 people have commented until the last count.

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 made in the viral video, Newschecker split the video into several key frames and conducted reverse searches on them. A reverse search on a frame from the viral video led us to a video dated March 14, 2025, posted on a YouTube channel named @netra169. On checking the video, we found that the video resembled the viral clip showing the president talking with people. On checking the video which was a clear version of the clip carried in the viral video, we found that President Ram Chandra Poudel said that I don’t need a president when another person said that he has been picked for the president.

The video gave us the clue that the video is old and captured before Poudel was elected as the president.

Poudel, a prominent politician of Nepal, was elected as the third President of Nepal on March 9, 2023. Prior to becoming the president, Poudel was a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party.

We then closely observed the video on a larger frame and noticed the logo of Kailash Khabar on the top right corner of the viral video. Taking a clue, we searched the YouTube channel named ‘Kailash Khabar’ and found a video, dated May 22, 2022.

On checking the video, we found that leader Poudel is talking about electoral alliance with CPN (Maoist Centre) in order to ensure political stability and development in the country.

Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video shows an old clip of president Ram Chandra Poudel stressing on the need to forge electoral alliance with the CPN (Maoist Centre) in order to make the country politically stable.

The viral video misconstrued his quote saying ‘I don’t need the president’ when he was speaking in a different context. The clip carried in the viral video is from May 2022 when he was not elected as the president of Nepal.

Conclusion

No, President Ram Chandra Poudel didn’t demand monarchy. The viral video is old and misleading.

Result: False

Sources
Netra169/YouTube, March 14, 2025
Kailash Khabar/YouTube, May 22, 2022
Kathmandu Post, March 9, 2023

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