Polling begins in Nepal; top leaders cast early votes

Kathmandu:  Parliamentary polls began in Nepal at 7 a.m. on Thursday for the House of Representatives, with voters queuing at polling centres across the country to cast their ballots.

The elections are being held to elect 275 members of the lower house — 165 through the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system and 110 through the proportional representation system.

Some of the country’s noted leaders, including Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane and senior party leader Balen Shah, Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, cast their votes from their hometowns.

Lamichhane and Shah cast their votes from Kathmandu. Shah, the prime ministerial candidate from the RSP, is contesting from Jhapa-5 in eastern Nepal as a key rival to former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. However, he cannot vote for himself as votes can only be cast in one’s registered hometown.

Speaking to the media after casting his vote, RSP President Lamichhane said that voting was necessary to choose the type of leadership people want. “It is an opportunity to shape your own future and that of your children,” he said, referring to the voters.

His party, the fourth-largest party in the dissolved House of Representatives, is expected to perform better this time due to apparent public discontent with traditional political parties, along with the presence of some popular faces in the party.

Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ also cast his vote from his hometown of Bharatpur, Chitwan, on Thursday morning, where his daughter Renu Dahal is a candidate for the House of Representatives. A former mayor of the same city, Renu, is considered a strong candidate given her apparent track record in delivering development in the city.

Prachanda himself is a candidate for the House of Representatives from Rukum East-1 in western Nepal, which is also the traditional stronghold of his party. After casting his vote, Prachanda said that the narrative of old versus new political forces would not do justice to the people; instead, the focus should be on whether parties and candidates are good or bad. Prachanda’s party, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or CPN (UML), are often characterised as old parties, and popular disenchantment is frequently directed at their leaders.

Popular leader Kul Man Ghising, president of the Ujyalo Nepal Party, also cast his vote in Kathmandu. Ghising is credited with ending prolonged load-shedding in the country during his tenure as head of the Nepal Electricity Authority and has since formed his own party.

Fresh elections in the Himalayan nation are taking place nearly two years ahead of schedule due to the new political situation that emerged after the Gen Z movement in September last year, which brought down the government led by former Prime Minister Oli. The development paved the way for the formation of the current interim government led by Sushila Karki.

Following her appointment as head of the government, the lower house was dissolved at the demand of Gen Z leaders, and she was mandated to hold fresh elections within six months.

More than 18.90 million people are eligible to vote in these elections, including 915,119 newly registered voters. Of the total voters, more than two-thirds of the newly registered voters belong to the Gen Z age group, marking a noticeable surge in youth engagement ahead of the 2026 polls, according to the Election Commission of Nepal.

The elections are being held at 23,112 polling centres. A total of 3,406 candidates are in the race under the FPTP system, while 3,135 candidates are contesting under the proportional representation system.

–IANS