The final tally of candidates for the March 5 elections stands at 3,406 after the withdrawal and cancellation of 81 candidacies on Thursday and Friday.

As many as 3,487 candidates for House of Representatives seats from 68 political parties and independents had registered their candidacy on Tuesday under the first-past-the-post category. However, 81 candidates either withdrew from the race or had their nominations scrapped by the Election Commission after being found ineligible to contest the elections.

Kul Bahadur GC, assistant spokesperson for the commission, said that while the nominations of nine candidates were scrapped by election officers in the respective constituencies, others withdrew voluntarily.

Of the total remaining candidates, 3,017 are males and 388 females. Only one is from the sexual and gender minority community. The candidates are predominantly above 41 years of age. Those below 40 years number 1,056. While 1,925 are aged between 41 and 60 years, 425 are senior citizens.

As per the officials at the commission, the current number of the candidates will prevail till the election if no candidacy is scrapped for violating the code of conduct.

“The nominations of nine individuals were scrapped based on the complaints received,” said GC.

Anyone who had reservations about the candidacy of any candidate could lodge complaints on Wednesday.

Resham Chaudhary, patron of the Nagarik Unmukti Party Nepal, is a prominent figure whose candidacy was scrapped. Chaudhary was convicted of masterminding the 2015 Tikapur killings, in accordance with the Act Relating to the Election of Members of the House of Representatives.

Those withdrawing their candidacy, on the other hand, include former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai who retracted his Gorkha-2 nomination from the Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party.

Bhattarai said several leaders, well-wishers, and local residents later urged him to stay above party politics and play a broader, advisory role rather than contest as a candidate of a single party.

Accepting that view, he said his role would be more effective outside Parliament given the country’s fluid political situation. He said he would continue to support progressive and emerging political forces, including Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party.

Likewise, Bhupendra Jung Shahi, a Nepali Congress leader who had been listed for the Humla contest, also withdrew his candidacy. He had filed the nomination in protest after the party decided to field Harsha Bahadur Bam instead.