FactCheck: Based on fake screenshot, Nagarik News and Desh Sanchar spread false news about Rabi-Balen
फागुन २९, २०८२ १६:३३
Kathmandu. On Wednesday, the online edition of Nagarik Daily published a news article. The news claimed that the chairman of the Rastriya Swatantrata Party (RSP), Rabi Lamichhane, stated that his ‘hands were shaking’ while giving his best wishes to senior leader Balendra Shah (Balen). Rabi Lamichhane’s social media was cited as the source of the news. However, fact-checking by the TechPana FactCheck Desk confirmed that the claim is false.
In fact, Rabi Lamichhane has not made any posts extending congratulations. A screenshot edited from a caption written by an unknown user, giving the impression that Rabi gave his best wishes to Balen, went viral on social media. It is verified that Nagarik News used that fake screenshot as the basis for a news article.
Claim
On Wednesday, March 11, 2026, Nagarik News shared a post on various social media platforms. The caption of the post reads, “Rabi gave his best wishes to Balen, saying: My hand is trembling.
Congratulating on social media, he mentioned that his hand was shaking while sending best wishes to Balen for his victory.”
Below that, a link to the news article is provided. The news states,“Rabi Lamichhane, the chairman of Rastriya Swatantrata Party (Raswapa), extended best wishes to senior leaders. Congratulating on social media, he mentioned that his hand was shaking while sending best wishes to Balen for his victory.”
“Dear Balen, my hands are trembling as I congratulate you for victory—not from fear, but from the burden of responsibility,” he wrote.
He further stated that he is confident that the citizens who want to see Balen as Prime Minister will never be disappointed.
“I believe that you will never let the hope of this country that wants to see you as the prime minister die. Remember, when we lose, it is not just a party that loses, but the hopes of millions of underprivileged people of this country die. And no one is entitled to kill that hope,’ Lamichhane said. ‘For us, politics is not a profession; it is a means to repay the debt to the sacrifice of our ancestors and the future of the coming generations.”
See the Facebook post (archive link) and news (archive link).
Investigation
The TechPana FactCheck Desk has begun an investigation into the claim that Rabi Lamichhane posted a message wishing the best to Balen and mentioning that his hands were shaking while giving congratulations. In the process, it was found that a media outlet named Deshsanchar.com had published news under the headline ‘While congratulating Balen, Rabi said: ‘My hands are shaking.’ See the news and archive link. It was also found that other Facebook pages shared the same post by copying the post.
In that process, the fact-check desk first based itself on the language of the news published by these two media outlets. It was found that the basic principle of news, ‘5Ws and 1H,’ was not followed. For example, the articles did not specify when or on which platform the congratulatory message was posted. This indicates that the news report was incomplete.
After that, we searched Rabi Lamichhane’s official social media platform, including Facebook (account), and X about this. However, we could not find any post where Rabi congratulated Balen. Then, we searched the text posted as a quote by Rabi Lamichhane on Google Advanced Search. During that process, a screenshot was found.
On February 28, 2026, a post by a user named ‘Laxman Tharu’ was found on a Facebook group called ‘Online News Nepal.’ The caption of the post reads, “Raswapa chairman Rabi Lamichhane says: Dear Balen, as I congratulate you for your victory, my hands are trembling—not from fear, but from the burden of responsibility. I believe that you will never let die the hope of this country that wants to see you as the prime minister. Remember, when we lose, it is not just a party that loses, but the ‘hopes’ of millions of underprivileged people in this country die. And no one is entitled to kill that hope. “For us, politics is not a profession; it is a means to repay the debt to the sacrifice of our ancestors and the future of the coming generations.” Below it, a photo is placed, where Rabi Lamichhane is seen posting Balen’s photo from a verified Facebook account, giving his best wishes.
When doing a reverse image search, the photo was found to have been posted by Balen Shah on his Facebook page on February 27, 2026. See the Facebook post.
The screenshot also appears unnatural. The name “Rabi Lamichhane” at the top does not match the style of the text below. The name at the top appears in bold, while the text below appears normal. However, that text also does not resemble a typical Facebook post interface. It looks like a screenshot taken from the Facebook Android app. To test this, we posted the same caption and photo on a Facebook account. This confirms that the screenshot claiming to be of Rabi Lamichhane is edited.
During further investigation, it was found that a Facebook user named ‘Rabin Yadav' posted with the same caption on March 4. Other Facebook users were also found to have used the same caption. However, it could not be confirmed who first posted it. Nonetheless, the screenshot posted under the name of Rabi Lamichhane is fake. Thus, the news published by DeshSanchar and Nagarik News on the basis of this fake screenshot is false.
Claimant
Media outlets such as Nagarik News and DeshSanchar, as well as social media users who shared the fake screenshot.
Claim
Rabi Lamichhane, the chairman of Rastriya Swatantrata Party (RSP), posted on social media congratulating senior leader Balendra Shah (Balen) for victory and claimed in the post that his hands were shaking while extending his best wishes.
Fact
Rabi Lamichhane has not posted any such message on his official Facebook or X account congratulating Balen. The post that went viral on social media is a completely edited fake screenshot. A user named Laxman Tharu had posted this fake screenshot on February 28. In that post, an old photo posted by Balen was used to make it look like it was posted from Rabi’s official account.
Conclusion
The claim that Rabi Lamichhane posted on social media that ‘his hands were shaking’ while congratulating Balen is false. The news articles written by ‘Nagarik News’ and ‘Desh Sanchar,’ based on that fake screenshot, are therefore false.
Feedback
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पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: फागुन २९, २०८२ १६:३३
