Overview
- Polling ran from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for nearly 19 million eligible voters to choose a 275-seat House of Representatives using 165 direct seats and 110 proportional seats.
- Authorities deployed roughly 330,000–341,000 security personnel and prepared helicopters to collect ballot boxes from remote regions, with a three-day holiday and temporary border curbs in place.
- Rastriya Swatantra Party figure Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah is challenging veteran leader K.P. Sharma Oli in Jhapa-5, with Nepali Congress leader Gagan Thapa also a leading contender for prime minister.
- The Election Commission said counting would begin after ballot collection, with results for direct seats expected within about 24 hours and proportional allocations taking additional days.
- Roughly one million mostly young new voters joined the rolls since the protests, elevating anti-corruption, job creation and better governance as defining issues of the campaign.