Kathmandu, March 5: Around 24 per cent of voters had cast their ballots by 1 pm on Thursday in Nepal’s parliamentary elections, with polling largely peaceful across the country, according to the Election Commission.
More than 4.45 million voters exercised their franchise between 7 am and 1 pm, out of over 18.90 million eligible voters, including 915,119 newly registered electors. This is the first national election since the September uprising that led to the ouster of the government headed by former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.
The elections will decide 275 members of the House of Representatives, with 165 elected under the First-Past-the-Post system and 110 through proportional representation. Voting is being conducted at 23,112 polling centres nationwide. A total of 3,406 candidates are contesting under the FPTP system, while 3,135 are in the fray under proportional representation.
Police officials said the voting process was progressing smoothly, with only minor incidents reported. A brief disruption occurred in Dolakha district’s Tamakoshi Rural Municipality after a candidate’s representative allegedly attempted to assault a polling officer. Police fired a warning shot to control the situation, and voting was temporarily halted pending an all-party discussion.
A minor scuffle was also reported in the Sarlahi-4 constituency, where Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa is contesting.
Prime Minister Sushila Karki, along with key leaders including Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Rabi Lamichhane, cast their votes earlier in the day. Urging citizens to participate, the Prime Minister said voting would determine the nation’s future.
