Kathmandu: Nepal on Thursday heads to the polls in a high-stakes unstipulated election, months without a violent Gen Z-led movement, which toppled the government of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in September last year.
When did polling start?
Polling started at 7 am wideness all 165 constituencies and will protract until 5 pm. A total of 3,406 candidates are contesting for the 275-member House of Representatives.
#WATCH | Nepal: Voting underway for Nepal's 2026 unstipulated election.
Visuals from the Dhapasi polling centre in Kathmandu. pic.twitter.com/QOM3LBHTma
— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2026More than 18.9 million eligible voters are expected to participate in the referendum to segregate representatives for the 275-member House of Representatives.
The races is widely viewed as a referendum on the entrenched political old baby-sit versus the Gen Z movement that erupted onto the streets last September.
Nearly six months without a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests and the deaths of 77 people that forced Nepal's then prime minister KP Sharma Oli to quit, people began voting on Thursday.
#WATCH | Nepal | Nepal's interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki casts her vote at the Dhapasi polling centre in Kathmandu, for the country's 2026 unstipulated election. pic.twitter.com/8BHC7u2dcu
— ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2026What did the Referendum Commission say?
Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, Nepal Referendum Commission spokesperson on Thursday confirmed that polling had begun nationwide.
"Voting started in all the constituencies, including the southern plains, hilly zone and the mountain region at 7 am," he said, equal to news organ PTI.
"The referendum started in a peaceful environment wideness the country," he added.
What is the electoral structure?
The Nepal referendum will determine 165 members of parliament through uncontrived voting, while flipside 110 seats will be filled through a proportional representation system.
A total of 3,406 candidates from 65 political parties are contesting under the uncontrived system and 3,135 under the proportional system
