The legal door has opened to start voter registration for the March 5 snap polls.

President Ramchandra Paudel, on the government’s recommendation, issued an ordinance to amend the law so as to enroll new voters for the upcoming polls. Section 4, subsection 2 (2) of the Voter Registration Act, 2073, stipulates: “No person shall be registered in the voters’ roll for the purpose of an election after the date of that election has been declared.”

Tens of thousands of youths could have been barred from exercising their franchise right under the existing law. The ordinance has revised the provision allowing the Election Commission to restart the registration of voters.

"If the House of Representatives is dissolved and an election is announced before its term is complete, the Election Commission can set a period for the collection, registration, or updating of voter lists,” reads the ordinance.

During the meeting with Prime Minister Sushila Karki and Minister for Home Affairs Om Prakash Aryal, the commission had suggested revising the law through ordinance.

“The commission’s meeting tomorrow [Thursday] will decide to resume voter registration,” said Ram Prasad Bhandari, acting chief election commissioner. “We will allow a month for the registration.”

The commission had stopped voter registration after the election dates were announced on September 12. President Paudel, on Karki’s recommendation, had dissolved the House of Representatives and announced the mid-term elections for March 5, 2026.

As per the Election Commission’s report, as many as 18,148,654 voters have been listed for voting as of Chaitra-end (mid-April)—end of the previous Nepali year 2081.

As many as 17,988,570 voters—9,140,806 men, 8,847,579 women and 185 from other categories—were eligible to cast their ballots in November 2022.

By April 2025, in two and a half years, the number increased by 160,054 to 18,148,654.

Anyone who has attained the age of 16 can get Nepali citizenship. However, they have to wait for another two years before exercising their right to vote. Voter registration is a must for this.

Bhandari said that along with the preparations to resume voter registration, the commission is also working extensively to calculate the financial and other resources necessary to hold the elections successfully.

“Several police posts have been burnt down, district administration offices have been destroyed while they also have lost necessary resources to ensure security during the elections," said Bhandari. “We are consulting with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the security agencies to evaluate how much budget and other logistics will be required.”

Going by the past experiences, most of the budget for the elections is spent on security arrangements. Along with the mobilisation of existing security forces, there is also a practice of recruiting temporary police for a couple of months to support election security.

The commission has been claiming that it will adopt austerity measures to hold the polls with minimal expenses.

The government, on other hand, claims that there will be no problem in giving enough funds to the commission. Minister for Finance Rameshore Khanal has been claiming that the government can hold the elections with its own resources.

The ministry will start releasing a budget whenever the commission needs it. Right after taking charge of the ministry, Khanal decided to cut the budget released for non-performing projects. The government is expected to save around Rs120 billion through the measure which could be channelised in meeting other expenses including elections.