New Delhi, March 27 -- Balendra Shah, a structural engineer who rose to fame as a rap artist before becoming Kathmandu's mayor, is poised to become Nepal's next prime minister, after his party swept a parliamentary election earlier this month.

Shah, widely known as Balen, leads the Rastriya Swatantra Party, or, RSP, which won about two-thirds of the 275 seats in the bicameral parliament's powerful lower House of Representatives.

It is the first time in many years in Nepal that a single party has won such an overwhelming majority.

Shah was chosen as the leader by the elected members from his party on Thursday. The president is set to appoint Shah as the prime minister of Nepal, and to swear him in on Friday.

The victory positions the 3...