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Newly elected Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa assumed office on Friday. 

Thapa, who previously served as the General Secretary of the party, was unanimously elected as the President during the second special general convention held in Kathmandu on January 15. 

The first meeting of the newly elected working committee is taking place at the party's central office in Sanepa today. 

Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has withdrawn his candidacy.

Bhattarai, who had filed his candidacy from Gorkha-2 for the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5, has decided to withdraw his nomination today.

He had filed his nomination from the Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party.

Women’s representation in Nepal’s national parliament has remained largely unchanged since the formation of the interim legislature in 2007, despite a constitutional requirement that political parties ensure at least 33 percent female representation.

While the quota has prevented a decline in women’s participation, it has failed to generate meaningful growth. The primary reason lies in the scope of the law, which mandates the quota only under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, not under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral category.

As a result, political parties continue to nominate overwhelmingly male candidates in FPTP races, where no legal obligation exists to promote gender balance.

Data from the March 5 House of Representatives (HoR) candidacy nominations highlight this imbalance. Of the 3,486 candidates registered nationwide, 3,089 are men, 396 are women, and one candidate identifies as “other.” Women account for just over 11 percent of total candidates.

Both traditional and newly formed political parties display a similar pattern of male dominance. Under the FPTP category, there is little distinction between established parties and newer political forces in terms of women’s participation.

Among major parties, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) nominated 16 women candidates, while the Nepali Congress (NC) fielded 11, the CPN-UML 12, and the Nepali Communist Party 11. These figures indicate minimal variation among leading parties. The trend mirrors past elections. In the 2022 HoR election, 2,291 men and only 235 women were registered as candidates. In the dissolved House of Representatives, women held 91 of the 275 seats, while men occupied 184.

Experts say the composition of the incoming parliament is unlikely to differ significantly from the previous legislature. Historically, women’s candidacy under the FPTP system has remained below 11 percent across four major elections: the two Constituent Assembly elections in 2008 and 2013, and the House of Representatives elections in 2017 and 2022.

In the 2022 elections, the Rastriya Swatantra Party recorded the highest proportion of women candidates among major parties at 9.2 percent. The Nepali Congress nominated 5.8 percent women candidates in 2017 and 5.5 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, the CPN-UML increased its share of women candidates from 4.9 percent in 2017 to 7.8 percent in 2022. Analysts argue that without extending the 33 percent quota to the FPTP system, Nepal’s progress toward gender-balanced political representation will remain limited, despite constitutional commitments to inclusion.

The District Police Office has stated that 88 polling stations in the Kavrepalanchowk are sensitive, of which 23 are 'highly sensitive'. 

"Security arrangements for highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations will be tightened," District Police Chief Komal Shah said, expressing the commitment that security personnel will be deployed at the sites to smoothly conduct the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5. . 

There are plans to deploy 2,269 election police – 1,115 from the Nepal Police, and 350 from the Armed Police in the district. 

Out of the total 326,611 voters in Kavrepalanchowk, 167,499 are male, 159,110 are female, and two from another gender category. 

Meanwhile, for the upcoming elections, written exams and interviews for the selection of election police were conducted in Dhulikhel on Thursday. 

The district comprises two constituencies for the upcoming elections.