People enrol for the upcoming elections at the Minbhawan office of the Election Commission in Kathmandu on Friday (Oct 10, 2025). - TKP/ANN
KATHMANDU: When the country went to general elections in November 2022, Notice KC was already 18 years old. Like many youths her age, she showed little interest in politics. She thus did not bother to register on the voter list.
However, much has changed since. On Sunday (Oct 12), she enthusiastically queued at the district election office in Kathmandu with the necessary documents and got listed as a voter for the upcoming polls.
“I had zero interest in politics until last month’s Gen Z movement. The change the movement brought has sparked my interest in politics,” she told the Post at the premises of the election office. “I will not just vote for youths but also campaign for them. I want youths to replace the old leaders who have ruined the country all these years.”
KC, 21, urged everyone to register as voters and use their franchise rights responsibly.
The two-day Gen Z movement on September 8 and 9 unseated the K. P. Sharma Oli government. Based on the recommendation of the new Prime Minister Sushila Karki, President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved the House of Representatives on September 12 and announced fresh polls for March 5, 2026.
Starting September 26, the Election Commission resumed voter registration after Paudel issued an ordinance clearing legal hurdles to open the voter roll.
Any Nepali citizen who turns 18 by March 4, 2026, can register. The commission has set November 16 as a deadline to update the list.
Thakur Bhattarai, chief of the district election office in Kathmandu, said registration of new voters is very encouraging. Over 600 new voters, mostly youths, are enrolling daily from the Kathmandu district office alone.
Nepali citizens can register at any district election office, although they will have to travel to their place of permanent residency to cast their vote.
“I was never interested in voting earlier, as I knew one of the same old parties would get elected. Now I am hopeful the tradition will be broken,” said Sanjaya Shrestha, 24, who registered on Sunday. “People have woken up after last month’s movement. I expect the upcoming elections to elect new parties and leaders to govern the country.”
As of Sunday, more than 33,000 new voters have been registered across the country. “There is still more than a month left for registration. We expect this number to increase several-fold,” said Suman Ghimire, information officer at the commission. “We have the tendency to wait until the last hours.”
As per the commission’s report, as many as 18,148,654 voters have been listed as of mid-April.
As many as 17,988,570 voters—9,140,806 men, 8,847,579 women, and 185 from other categories—were eligible to cast their ballots in November 2022. By April 2025, in two and a half years, the number increased by 160,054 to 18,148,654.
Along with voter registration, the commission has also called for the new parties to enrol by mid-November. Though different Gen Z groups have announced they will contest the polls, none have been registered yet.
To be listed as a political party, a party must submit its statute, flag, desired election symbol, and the signatures of at least 500 voters, among other documents. As of July, 122 political parties are registered with the commission.
In the 275-strong lower house, 165 members are elected through first-past-the-post, while the remaining 110 are elected under proportional representation based on each party’s vote shares.
As per the commission’s schedule, parties willing to contest next year’s polls should register separately. They will have 10 days to do so starting November 17. Parties contesting the polls will have to submit their closed lists of candidates for the proportional representation system on January 2 and 3 next year.
The commission has decided to give two weeks starting February 15 for election publicity campaigns. There will be two days of electoral silence before voting commences at 7 am on March 5. Voting will continue until 7 pm that evening. - The Kathmandu Post/ANN
