Newchecker.in is an independent fact-checking initiative of NC Media Networks Pvt. Ltd. We welcome our readers to send us claims to fact check. If you believe a story or statement deserves a fact check, or an error has been made with a published fact check
Contact Us: [email protected]
English
Claim
Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balen Shah and Dharan Sub-metropolitan City mayor Harka Sampang expressed solidarity with the signature campaign of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
Fact
The viral claim is false.
A video claiming that Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balen Shah and Dharan Sub-metropolitan City mayor Harka Sampang have expressed solidarity with the signature campaign of Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichane is going viral on TikTok.
The video is going viral at a time when the Rastriay Swatantra Party has been continuing its signature campaign to gather support for the party chief Rabi Lamichhane, who has been in judicial custody for over four months over cooperative fraud allegations.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @raznabin3 posted a video showing visuals of Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ and Dharan Sub-metropolitan city mayor Harka Sampang. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Harka and Balen led thousands of supporters to participate in the signature campaign. All youth leaders have come together to support Rabi after the state planned to attack Kulman [former chief of Nepal Electricity Authority] Balen Shah, and Harka Sampang and Gopi [mayor of Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan city].” Audio accompanying the video presented in a news bulletin style says, “Powerful earthquake has rocked the CPN-UML and Nepali Congress [Two key partners of the current ruling coalition], Oli and Deuba have panicked. Mayors Balen Shah and Harka Sampang have expressed solidarity with the signature campaign of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). The young leaders have reached the Banasthali-based party office of Rastriya Swatantra Party along with thousands of cadres. They have also contributed signature to the campaign and said that Rabi Lamichhane should be released from jail anyhow.”
The video posted on July 11 has garnered 6527 likes, 382 people have shared it and 309 users have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be false.
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker searched for news regarding Balen and Harka’s alleged support to the signature campaign of Rastriya Swatantra Party by using several relevant keywords. However, the search didn’t yield any credible reports about the maverick mayors expressing solidarity with the signature campaign of RSP.
On checking further, we found several reports of high-profile people such as former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Bollywood cine artist Manisha Koirala, former chief attorney of Madhes Province Dipendra Jha, and cine artist Bipin Karki participating in the signature campaign supporting Rabi Lamichhane.
Further, we looked up the Facebook pages of both Shah and Sampang to check their participation in the signature campaign. However, we didn’t find any posts about their visiting the RSP office and expressing solidarity with RSP’s signature campaign to support Rabi Lamichhane.
RSP Signature Campaign
RSP launched the signature campaign on June 21 by releasing a 20-page public appeal drafted by Chairman Lamichhane himself.
Lamichhane is in judicial custody in Rupandehi over allegations of embezzling funds from several cooperatives when he was managing director of the now-defunct Galaxy 4K television channel.
In the document, Lamichhane has claimed that his detention was not based on legal grounds but was motivated by vendetta and with the intention to weaken the RSP.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video is made up by combining unrelated clips and creating a false narrative.
No, the young mayors of Kathmandu and Dharan have not expressed solidarity with RSP signature campaign to support Rabi Lamichhane. The viral video is false.
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint WhatsApp us at +91-9999499044 or email us at [email protected]. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
Sources
Onlinekhabar.com , July 17, 2025
My Republica, June 28, 2025
Manisha Koirala/Instagram
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint WhatsApp us at +91-9999499044 or email us at [email protected]. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
False
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 25, 2025
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 15, 2025
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 10, 2025
