KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — When Nepal's youngest prime minister takes the oath Friday after alandslide victory in the recent election, it won't just be a historic political moment, it will also be a numerological one.
Nepal Parliament
Balendra Shahwill be sworn in at 12:34 p.m., on a day when the Himalayan nation is celebrating Ram Navami, to mark the birth of the popular Hindu God Rama.
Hindu priests say 12:34 p.m. is the most auspicious time on Friday, according to astrological calculations. It also fits the "1-2-3-4" numerological pattern. Shah is later scheduled to enter his new office at 14:15 p.m. which also fits a "14-15" pattern. Hindu priests consider such numerical patterns as auspicious as well.
Religion and astrology play a big role in Nepal, which is more than 80% Hindu and where people begin new work, get married and hold religious rituals according to auspicious times.
Shah was born in the capital Kathmandu but his family comes from the Hindu-dominated Terai region of Nepal, near the border with India.
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He will take the oath of office as prime minister of Nepal before President Ramchandra Paudel at an elaborate ceremony with Hindu rituals, including "shankhnaad" or blowing of conches, and religious chanting by Hindu priests and Buddhist lamas.
Shah plans to take the oath along with hisnewly chosen Cabinetin the presence of officials and diplomats.
Balendra Shah, a structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming Kathmandu's mayor, leads the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which won about two-thirds of the 275 seats in the bicameral Parliament's powerful lower House of Representatives.
Shah, the 35-year-old political outsider widely known as Balen, will lead a government tasked with navigatingdeep public frustrationwith Nepal's established parties, who were widely blamed by voters for corruption and chronic political instability.
Shah emerged as a prominent voice during thebloody youth-led uprising in Septemberthat toppled the government in the nation of 30 million people, a wave of unrest that left dozens dead.
Although he didn't directly participate in the protests, Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z demonstrators who led the movement.
