KATHMANDU: Voting for the House of Representatives (HoR) election began across Nepal on Wednesday morning, with polling underway simultaneously in all 77 districts from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.

According to the Election Commission Nepal, the election is being held in a single phase to elect members of the lower house of Parliament under both the first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional representation (PR) systems.

A total of 165 seats are being contested through the direct FPTP system, while 110 members will be elected through the proportional representation system. Altogether, 65 political parties are participating in the election.

In the direct electoral race, 3,406 candidates are contesting—3,017 men, 388 women and one from the other category. Under the proportional representation system, 3,135 candidates are in the fray, including 1,363 men and 1,772 women.

The Commission said 18,903,689 voters are eligible to cast ballots in the election, including 9,663,358 men, 9,240,131 women and 200 others. In addition, 186,142 voters have been registered as temporary voters.

For the voting process, 23,112 polling centres have been established at 10,967 polling stations across the country, along with 143 temporary polling centres. Authorities have also arranged priority voting facilities for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.

A large number of security personnel and election staff have been deployed to ensure a smooth and peaceful voting process. Observers from four international and 39 national organisations are monitoring the polls.

This is the third parliamentary election since Nepal adopted a federal democratic republican system, following the previous elections held in 2017 and 2022.