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Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal has said that voting security has been fully ensured nationwide in view of the House of Representatives (HoR) elections taking place on Thursday.

During an interaction with the media at the Home Ministry today, the Minister, who also serves as the Government Spokesperson, assured that this election will be conducted in a credible, more impartial, and fearless environment compared to past elections. The interaction focused on the peace and security situation and preparations for the HoR polls–2026.

“The entire security mechanism has been mobilized up to the voting stations. If necessary, all preparations are in place to enable effective government control,” he said. He added that any unwanted activities during the election are punishable by law, and those responsible will be brought before the court.

He also shared details about the security plans of the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and the Nepal Army, if required.

The Home Minister urged voters to cast their votes with full understanding. “The election is not just a means of electing representatives; it also contributes to establishing political good governance,” he said.

He further informed that ballot paper management procedures will be carried out under the integrated election security plan, as in previous elections. 

The Minister assured of the safe collection and transportation of ballot papers to the respective election offices after voting.

Security has been tightened at the Nepal–India border to ensure that the House of Representatives elections on Thursday are conducted in a peaceful  environment.

Madhav Prasad Pokharel, Chief District Officer of Rupandehi, said that an informal border coordination meeting was held with his counterpart from Maharajganj District in Uttar Pradesh, India, regarding the security in the border areas in view of the House of Representatives elections.

The informal discussion between officials of both countries and the monitoring of the border area were attended by Chief District Officer Pokhrel, along with Chief of Police and Deputy Superintendent of Police of the District Police Office Rupandehi Janak Bahadur Shahi, the Armed Police Force Deputy Inspector General Navaraj Bohara, and Prakash Acharya, Director of the National Investigation Department, from Nepal side.

Similarly, Santosh Kumar Sharma, the chief officer (DM) of the District Maharajganj in India, and SP Somendra Meena of the Indian police were also present.

Chief District Officer Pokharel stated that both parties discussed the issue of closing the border during the election and effectively implementing it. He said that the Indian side also showed interest in assisting in conducting the elections peacefully and fairly.

Considering the elections, all the border crossings with India in Rupandehi district have been closed for 72 hours from 12:00 midnight on Monday, March 2. 

The district administration has stated that all borders will remain closed until voting is completed on the election day, March 5.

The Election Commission (EC) has urged all voters to participate actively and enthusiastically in the voting scheduled for Thursday, March 5, under the House of Representatives (HoR) elections.

At a press meet organized at the EC today on the eve of the voting, Officiating Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said that all preparations for conducting the elections have been completed. 

He called on all eligible citizens to take part in the elections as a constitutional exercise to renew democratic legitimacy and cast their invaluable votes.

A total of 65 political parties are contesting under the first-past-the-post (direct) electoral system with 61 election symbols. 

Under the direct system, there are 3,017 male candidates and 388 female candidates. One candidate from the other gender is also contesting, bringing the total number of candidates under this system to 3,406.

Similarly, under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, 1,363 male and 1,772 female candidates who make a total of 3,135 candidates are in the race. Voting under the direct electoral system is being held for 165 constituencies, while 110 seats are allocated under the PR system.

In this election, the total number of voters is 10,893,689. Of them, 9,663,358 are male voters, 1,230,131 are female voters, and 200 belong to other genders. According to the EC, there are 186,142 temporary voters.

Nationwide, there are 10,967 polling stations and 23,112 polling centers. A total of 143 temporary polling stations have been established.

For election security, 79,727 personnel from the Nepal Army, 75,797 from Nepal Police, 34,567 from the Armed Police Force, 1,921 from the National Investigation Department, and 149,000 temporary election police have been mobilized. Altogether, 215,000 employees have been deployed.

The EC has printed a total of 42,251,200 ballot papers for both electoral systems. Additionally, 39 national organizations and four international organizations have been permitted to observe the elections.

The General Election Observation Committee (GEOC) has said the voters are excited and waiting eagerly to exercise franchise tomorrow. 

GEOC made public a report based on field visits and information it received at call centers in the run-up to the House of Representatives (HoR) elections. The atmosphere for HoR elections tomorrow is peaceful and arrangements are smooth, it added.

The organization studied the voting preparation, participation of political parties, coordination and challenges before election, Election Commission's preparation and security situation. On the basis of such information, GEOC released the report, concluding that the election atmosphere was peaceful and voters are eagerly waiting for the election day.

Even the discussions and talks were held with political parties, voters, candidates, civil society, chief district officers, election officers for the preparation of report, according to GEOC General Secretary Krishna Man Pradhan. "A free, fair and peaceful atmosphere is in place for the election tomorrow," the report mentioned. 

Professor Chiranjivi Khanal who was mobilized as the national election observer informed that election preparation was in full scale and over. 

GEOC has mobilized 400 election observers at 250 local levels of 36 districts for the HoR elections.