Nepal Holds General Elections Amidst Special Circumstances Post-Jana Andolan Movement

Voting is taking place today for the House of Representatives election, held under the special circumstances following the Jana Andolan movement. Voting will be held in a single phase across all 77 districts of the country from 7 AM to 5 PM.

This is the third election for the House of Representatives since the country entered the Federal Democratic Republic. Elections were previously held in 2074 BS and 2079 BS.

Today, elections will be held for 165 constituencies under the 'First Past the Post' (Direct) system and 110 seats under the Proportional Representation system.

In the direct election, 65 political parties are competing for 61 constituencies. A total of 3,406 candidates are in the electoral race for the direct election: 3,017 male, 388 female, and one other.

Similarly, under the Proportional Representation system, 3,135 candidates are competing: 1,363 male and 1,772 female.

In this election, there are 18,903,689 voters: 9,663,358 male, 9,240,131 female, and 200 others. Additionally, the Election Commission stated that 186,142 temporary voters have been registered. For the election, 23,112 polling centers have been designated at 10,967 polling stations across the country. Furthermore, 143 temporary polling stations have been set up. The Election Commission has arranged priority for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, the infirm, and pregnant women to vote easily.

For election security, 79,727 Nepal Army personnel, 75,797 Nepal Police personnel, 34,567 Armed Police Force personnel, 1,921 National Investigation personnel, and 149,090 election police have been deployed. Two hundred fifteen thousand staff are mobilized to conduct the election. The Commission has printed a total of 42,251,200 ballot papers for both direct and proportional representation and has delivered them to the respective polling centers.

Four international and 39 national organizations are deployed for observation in this election. President Ram Chandra Paudel, Vice President Ram Sahayaprasad Yadav, Prime Minister Sushila Karki, and Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ramprasad Bhandari, among others, have already called for enthusiastic participation in the voting process.