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The CPN-UML has filed candidacies for all 165 electoral constituencies across the country for the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives with around 55 percent of its candidates being new faces.

Min Bahadur Shahi, Party's Chief of the Publicity Department, in a press meet organized at party office in Lalitpur on Tuesday, shared that the candidates including party Chairperson KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday registered their nominations in an enthusiastic presence of leaders, cadres and the public.

Shahi said of the total party candidates in fray, 54.54 percent are first-timer contenders.

Among them, there are 50 percent new candidates each in Sudurpaschim and Madhesh Provinces while 53.75 percent candidates contesting from Koshi Province are new, Shahi explained.

Likewise, Karnali Province has the highest portion of the new candidates at 75 percent whereas Lumbini Province has the lowest at 42.30 percent, he explained.

Similarly, new candidates make up 60 percent of the party's nominees in Bagmati Province and 61.11 per cent in Gandaki Province, he added.

The Supreme Court has denied interim order on a writ petition filed on leadership dispute of the Nepali Congress (NC).

A writ petition was filed against Election Commission's recognition of Gagan Thapa as the NC President elected from the special general convention.

A hearing was conducted in the single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel on Tuesday. 

The group led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had challenged the Election Commission's decision to confer authenticity on Thapa-led NC, but the court denied interim order sought in favour of Deuba.

The Justice argued that the writ warranted a remedy of constitutional questions associated with politics via final hearing, so interim order was not necessary. 

Justice Pokharel, however, ordered written responses on the case, giving it a prior right of hearing within 15 days of submission of the written responses.  

Shravan Kumar Shrestha had lodged the petition as an authorized representative of NC leaders Deuba and Purna Bahadur Khadka against Thapa's election as NC President, arguing that the special convention and Election Commission's recognition of Thapa were illegal.

A total of 2,925 candidates registered their nominations in 165 constituencies across the country towards the first-past-the-post electoral system of the House of Representatives (HoR) elections scheduled for March 5 as of 6 pm. 

At a press conference organized by the Election Commission (EC) this evening after the filing of the candidacies, Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut said that the registration of 336 female and 2,589 male candidates has appeared in the EC's system. 

The number may still increase since the task of verification is underway in some electoral constituencies, he said. 

Only four candidates have registered their candidacies in Mustang which is the lowest in number. 

Likewise, five candidates have registered their candidacies in Manang, Raut informed. 

It has been reported that the candidacies in both districts have been finalized. 

The highest number of candidacies was registered in Rupandehi electoral constituencies 2 and 3, with 35 candidates each. 

Candidacy in Rupandehi constituency 2 has been finalized, while it is still pending in constituency 3. 

Generally, the registration of candidacies has been conducted peacefully as reported by the offices of the returning officers. 

The submission of nomination papers was scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm today. 

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane filed his candidacy from Chitwan-2 for the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5. 

He filed candidacy through the authorized representative, Sita Gyawali, on Tuesday, according to assistant election officer, Deviram Bhandari.

Leader Bikram Shrestha proposed Lamichanne's candidacy while Ramaji Thakuri seconded the proposal. Lamichhane could not attend the election office in-person due to his busy schedule. 

There are 442,082 voters registered in the voters' list in the district having three constituencies.