The Election Commission has extended the voter registration deadline by five days following repeated requests from Prime Minister Sushila Karki. New voters can now register until November 21.

It was on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office first asked the commission for a deadline extension. Two days later, in a meeting with commission officials, Karki repeated the request. Initially commission officials were hesitant and warned that deadline extension could affect the election schedule. On Friday as well, Karki’s office made a similar suggestion, prompting the commission to extend the deadline to November 21.

In a statement, Karki’s secretariat said her office made the request for a deadline extension in view of the enthusiasm and pressure seen at voter registration centres.

“We are already working on a tight schedule. Extension of the deadline means we will have to overlap some of our work but will manage,” said the commission’s spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai. “We believe no eligible voter will be left out now.”

Following Karki’s request, the commission has started enrolling voters 12 hours a day, starting at 7 am. The service is available on Saturday as well.

After receiving complaints about technical glitches in the registration system, Karki’s office also requested that the commission start the registration process in multiple shifts and initiate technical and legal procedures to integrate data from the Department of National ID, thereby removing biometric redundancy. The data integration was completed on Wednesday, allowing anyone with a national identity card to register for the voter list online from Thursday without visiting election commission offices.

As of Thursday evening, 257,505 new voters had registered across the country. In addition, over 37,000 people registered online on Thursday alone. “The rush is very encouraging,” said Prakash Neupane, assistant spokesperson at the commission. “More than 30,000 people are getting registered daily by visiting election offices.”

The high enrolment led to multiple breakdowns in the commission’s server. There were reports of individuals with national identity cards not being able to get registered owing to server glitches.

“On several occasions, the system was unable to handle the heavy surge in service requests. Whenever issues emerged, the IT teams from the Election Commission and the Department of National ID worked together to resolve them promptly,” said Bhattarai.

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

As per the commission’s report, as many as 18,148,654 voters were listed until Chaitra [mid-April].

The flow of applications for the registration of new parties has also increased with the registration of new voters. The commission had received nine applications for new parties before the Gen Z protests [September 8-9] in the current fiscal year. As many as 27 applications have been lodged for the registration of new parties. “We are studying 33 applications while granting certificates to four after the protests,” said Yagya Bhattarai, chief of the legal division at the commission.

To be listed as a political party, an outfit must submit its statute, flag, desired election symbol, and the signatures of at least 500 voters, among other documents. Those who have applied for new parties include businessmen, lawmakers of the dissolved House of Representatives, and social activists, among others. The Gatisheel Loktantrik Party led by Dinesh Prasai, a professor of sociology, which includes businessman Birendra Basnet, the owner of Buddha Air, and others, is awaiting certification.

An independent lawmaker from the dissolved lower house, Yogendra Mandal, has applied for the Urjashil Party Nepal. Mandal, a CPN-UML leader, contested the November 2022 elections independently and won after the party denied him the ticket. He comes from Morang.

Khagendra Sunar, an anti-caste discrimination activist, has applied to register his party. Sunar, a ministerial nominee in the interim government, was dropped at the last hour after his controversial past came to light. He has been facing charges of abusing a lawyer through social media.

Chandra Prakash Subedi has applied for the registration of Sundar Nepal Nirman Party while Sabin Sigdel wants the Rashtra Nirman Party listed for the upcoming elections. ​Ratna Prasad Shrestha has filed an application to constitute Nagarik Sarbochchata Party Nepal and the commission has received an application from Himalaya Bahadur Chand for the registration of the Nepal Rashtriya Yuwa Party. A group of youths led by Hira Prasad Seti has applied for Rastriya Gen Z Party Nepal.