General elections are going to be held in Nepal on 5 March 2026. This election is being considered very special because it is the first time that the country will vote after a major youth-led movement in September 2025. In that movement, there were demonstrations against corruption, unemployment and bad governance. 77 people were killed in these demonstrations and the government had to resign. After this the Parliament was dissolved and it was decided that elections would be held within six months.

The population of Nepal is about 3 crores. Of these, about 1.89 crore people are eligible to vote. These include about 10 lakh new youth voters. This is the reason why this election is also being called Gen Z election. The role of youth is being considered most important this time.

How many candidates in Nepal elections?

Elections are being held in Nepal for the 275-seat House of Representatives. In this, 165 MPs will be elected by direct vote and 110 MPs will be elected through proportional representation system. A total of 6,541 candidates are in the fray. Of these, 4,380 are men and 2,160 are women. 23,112 polling stations have been set up across the country for voting. Nepal’s electoral system is mixed. Every voter casts two votes. One votes for the candidate of his area and the other for the party list. According to the Constitution, women’s participation in Parliament must be at least one-third. For this reason, at least 50 percent of the candidates in the proportional representation list are women. It has also been made mandatory to give representation to Dalit, Tribal, Madhesi, Muslim and other communities.

Tight security in Nepal elections

Security has been kept very tight in Nepal elections. The Election Commission has deployed about 3 lakh 40 thousand security personnel. Nepal Police, Armed Police Forces and Army are jointly handling the security. Ballot boxes will be monitored at all times. Nepali Congress and Communist Party (UML) have been dominating the politics of Nepal for a long time, but this time Rashtriya Swatantra Party i.e. RSP has emerged as the strongest new force. This party was formed in 2022 and is now becoming the choice of the youth.

Who is Balendra Shah?

The most talked about person in this election is 35-year-old rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah. He has previously been the Mayor of Kathmandu and is now a contender for the post of Prime Minister. He is contesting elections from RSP. He is facing 74-year-old KP Sharma Oli, who has been Prime Minister four times and was removed from power after the Gen Z movement. Other major candidates include Nepali Congress’s Gagan Thapa and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Gagan Thapa is 49 years old and popular among the youth. Pushp Kamal Dahal has been Prime Minister thrice and is now contesting from Rukum-1 seat. Balendra Shah is very popular on social media. He has more than 10 lakh followers on Instagram, more than 35 lakh followers on Facebook and more than 4 lakh followers on X. He describes himself as a new voice against the old politics. The youth like his style, his clothes and his habit of speaking clearly.

How many votes were cast in Nepal in which year?

Earlier in Nepal, voting was 61.7 percent in 2008, 78.3 percent in 2013, 68.7 percent in 2017 and 61.4 percent in 2022. This time also good turnout is expected because young voters are very active. Experts believe that it is difficult for any one party to get a clear majority. There is a possibility that a hung parliament may be formed and a coalition government may be formed. But RSP can get big success. This election will decide whether Nepal will move ahead with the old leaders or give a chance to the youth. Counting of votes in Nepal will be done by hand and due to the large number of candidates, it may take about a month for the final results to come.