KATHMANDU, March 5: Voting is underway today to elect a new House of Representatives (HoR) across the nation. Today’s voting is being held in the aftermath of the Gen Z movement. Polling is taking place across all 77 districts of the country in a single phase from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
This is the third House of Representatives election since Nepal transitioned to a federal democratic republic after the promulgation of its new constitution in 2015. The previous elections were held in 2017 and 2022.
In today’s election, voting is being conducted for 165 constituencies under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system and 110 seats under the proportional representation (PR) system.
Under the FPTP system, 65 political parties are contesting with 61 election symbols. A total of 3,406 candidates are competing in the direct elections, including 3,017 males, 388 females and one candidate from the ‘other’ category.
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For the proportional representation system, 3,135 candidates are in the race, including 1,363 male and 1,772 female candidates.
A total of 18,903,689 voters are eligible to vote in this election, including 9,663,358 male voters, 9,240,131 female voters and 200 voters from the ‘other’ category. Additionally, 186,142 temporary voters have been registered.
To conduct the election, 23,112 polling centers have been established at 10,967 polling locations across the country. In addition, 143 temporary polling sites have been set up.
The Election Commission said special arrangements have been made to prioritize senior citizens, persons with disabilities, elderly voters and pregnant women to ensure easier access to polling stations.
A large number of security personnel have been mobilized for the elections. The deployment includes 79,727 personnel from the Nepali Army, 75,797 from Nepal Police, 34,567 from the Armed Police Force, 1,921 from the National Investigation Department, and 149,090 temporary election police personnel.
Altogether, around 215,000 election staff have been mobilized to ensure a smooth voting process.
The Election Commission has printed 42,251,200 ballot papers for both the FPTP and proportional representation systems, which have already been distributed to the designated polling centers.
A total of four international organizations and 39 national organizations are monitoring the election.
Senior leaders, including President Ram Chandra Paudel, Vice President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Sushila Karki, and Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari, have called on citizens to exercise their democratic right by casting their votes.
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