KATHMANDU: Voting for the House of Representatives (HoR) is taking place nationwide today.
Under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, 65 political parties are contesting the elections with 61 election symbols. A total of 3,406 candidates are competing for FPTP seats, including 3,017 men, 388 women and one candidate from the other category.
In the proportional representation (PR) system, 3,135 candidates are in the fray, comprising 1,363 men and 1,772 women. The elections cover 165 constituencies under FPTP and 110 seats under the PR system.
According to the Election Commission of Nepal, there are 18,903,689 registered voters this year, including 9,663,358 men, 9,240,131 women and 200 others. Additionally, 186,142 temporary voters have been registered.
For the polls, the Commission has established 23,112 polling centres at 10,967 polling locations across the country, including 143 temporary polling sites.
To ensure security, 79,727 personnel from the Nepali Army, 75,797 from Nepal Police, 34,567 from the Armed Police Force Nepal, 1,921 from the National Investigation Department and 149,090 temporary election police have been deployed. Around 215,000 election staff are mobilised nationwide.
A total of 42,251,200 ballot papers have been printed for both FPTP and PR elections. Four international and 39 national organisations have been authorised to observe the voting process.
Meanwhile, the Commission has urged voters to participate enthusiastically and exercise their democratic rights. Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said the Commission is committed to conducting a free, fair, transparent and credible election in line with its constitutional mandate.
Stating that elections are not merely a process of electing representatives or forming a government but a constitutional practice to renew democratic legitimacy, Bhandari appealed to citizens to cast their votes.
He added that ballot boxes will be collected promptly after voting concludes and preparations are in place to publish FPTP results within 24 hours. Existing provisions regarding ballot box security remain unchanged, he said, expressing confidence that growing voter enthusiasm could result in higher turnout and fewer invalid votes.
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