Kathmandu, Dec 23: The Election Commission (EC) has added 1.016 million new voters to the electoral roll ahead of the March 5 House of Representatives election. EC spokesperson Narayan Bhattarai said officials are finalizing the list by registering new voters and removing duplicates, noting that the final tally may be slightly lower.
The updated voter list is expected to be published on December 30, with eligibility extended to Nepali citizens born on or before March 3, 2008. The 2022 general election had around 18 million voters.
Online voter registration has surged following the integration of national ID details, Bhattarai added. The original registration deadline was November 16, later extended by one week.
The EC confirmed that no new ballot boxes or paper will be needed for the polls. “We require 75,000 ballot boxes, which are already available,” Bhattarai said. Of the 51 types of election materials required, 37 will be supplied by district election offices. Ballot paper printing is scheduled to start in the last week of January.
A total of 114 political parties will contest the election, out of 143 registered with the EC, while 13 parties were rejected. The EC has allocated 107 election symbols, with 102 parties using unique symbols. Alternatives were provided only in cases of duplicate claims, and symbols previously held by older parties were reassigned.
The voter expansion, combined with streamlined registration and election preparations, reflects the EC’s efforts to ensure a smooth and inclusive polling process.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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