Nepal EC adds 168 new polling stations for March 5 elections

Kathmandu, Nov 30 (PTI) Nepal's election commission has added 168 new polling stations for the March 5 general election, raising their total number to 10,967, as it also removed 93 outdated or impractical sites, officials said on Sunday.

According to Election Commission (EC) Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, the nationwide review aimed to improve voter access and address long-standing issues such as inaccurate station names, outdated addresses, and locations that were difficult for voters to access.

Some booths were merged or shifted to more suitable sites.

The increase in polling stations comes due to a surge in voter numbers.

Till November 21 -- the last day for new voter registration -- 837,094 new voters had been added to the list.

There were 18,168,000 eligible voters in the country during the last general election in 2022.

Meanwhile, a total of 120 political parties have applied for registration to participate in the general election scheduled for March 5 next year.

Sunday was the last day for parties to register.

Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), Nepali Communist Party, Rastriya Swotantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Ujyalo Nepal Party are some of the major parties that have submitted applications for registration.

Dozens of new political parties have emerged after the fresh election date was announced following the Gen Z movement that overthrew the K P Sharma Oli-led government.

The EC will publish the final list of parties registered for the election purposes in a few days after scrutinising all the applications. PTI SBP GRS GRS GRS