Heavy snowfall on Saturday has cut off movement to Hilsa in ward 5 and Limi in ward 6 of Namkha Rural Municipality of Humla district. The villages had already been isolated from the district headquarters Simkot after an earlier snowfall in November failed to melt before the falling of fresh snow. Reaching Limi and Hilsa from Simkot requires crossing Nyalu and Nara passes, both rising to nearly 5,000 metres.

“There is at least three feet of snow at the moment. Movement has now completely stopped and the passes will remain impossible until the snow melts,” said Paljor Tamang, the ward 5 chief.

Limi has three polling centres with a total of 672 registered voters. But, according to Paljor, barely around 100 people are currently in the villages. Most residents have left to escape the severe cold or for trade, work and study. Of Limi’s three villages, only Til and Halji have caretakers currently staying behind while all houses in Jang are locked. Nearly 50 households in Hilsa are also deserted. Before the snowfall, there were around two dozen hotels operating in Hilsa. The Simkot-Hilsa road has been closed since the second week of November.

Limi experienced snowfall twice in November. “There was no snowfall in December, but heavy snow returned in January,” said Gyaljen Tamang of Halji, who is currently in Birendranagar of Surkhet to avoid the cold. “It takes at least two months for snow on Nara and Nyalu passes to melt. By then, the election will be over, and returning home itself has become a problem.”

Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Tashi Lhanjom said snowfall had prevented her from travelling to her own villages for campaigning.

There are three polling centres in Limi and one in Hilsa. Namkha Rural Municipality chairman Prem Bahadur Lama said chartering helicopters was the only option to transport ballot boxes and election supplies to these centres. “Holding elections in mountain districts in February is impractical. The number of voters is already low, and campaigning has also become difficult,” he said.

According to him, the Bhirkuti Primary School polling centre in Jang village has zero voters currently, as residents left before winter. “Even in other villages, there are only caretakers who have stayed behind,” he said. If voting were held under the current conditions, Lama estimated turnout of 30 to 40 percent at the Himshikhar Primary School polling centre in Litgaun and the Sunkhani Basic School polling centre.

Snowfall across the country’s high mountain districts has cut off villages, stranded voters in cities and revived long-standing concerns over holding winter elections in high-altitude settlements, with local representatives and election officials warning that turnout could fall sharply unless weather conditions improve in the coming weeks.

According to data compiled by the Karnali Province Police Office, excessive snowfall affects 20 polling centres across high-altitude settlements in the province, with around 4,000 registered voters currently living outside their villages. Provincial police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Ram Prakash Shah said 10 police posts in very cold areas had been relocated to district headquarters since mid-November, though efforts were under way to restore them within two weeks.

Similar challenges are visible in Mugu, another remote mountain district of Karnali. Most residents of Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality’s villages including Mugugaun, Kirti, Dolphu, Kimri and Kartil, are away for the winter to avoid biting winter cold.

“Around 400 people from Mugugaun alone have left to escape the cold,” said rural municipality chief Chhiring Kyapne Lama. While some residents have moved closer to the municipal centre at Pulu or to Gamgadhi, those who have gone outside the district are unlikely to return for the elections. After Saturday’s snowfall, up to two feet of snow has accumulated in these villages, and ward offices and health posts have been temporarily relocated to Pulu.

Khadananda Khatri, the chief district officer of Mugu, said security agencies had begun collecting data on the number of voters outside the district. He confirmed that helicopters would be required to transport election logistics to five polling centres in Mugum Karmarong, which does not have road access and remain prone to heavy snowfall.

However, Humla’s Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi is optimistic, stating that there is still time before polling day. He acknowledged difficulties in voter education and election campaigning but said around half of Limi’s residents had not left their villages.

“There is now more movement into the villages than out,” he said, adding that snow could melt and trails reopen before voting day. In the last general election, turnout in Limi’s three polling centres stood at 72 percent, and Regmi expressed confidence that most voters would return by early March. Local schools are set to reopen from February second week, which Lama said would make it easier to run voter education programmes.

In eastern Taplejung district, expectations of voter return are tied to the Sherpa community’s Lhosar (New Year) festival which falls on February 18 this year. Ghunsa village, situated at an altitude of 3,100 metres, will reopen its primary school from February 22.

“People usually return after celebrating Lhosar,” said Bidyanand Singh, headmaster at a local school in Ghunsa. He said that villagers would likely be back by February last. While more than half of Ghunsa’s residents are currently in Kathmandu, Dharan or Darjeeling, local representatives expect them to return before polling.

In Olangchunggola, another settlement located at an altitude of around 3,100 metres, roughly half of the residents are still staying in the village. Unlike some other high Himalayan settlements, people here do not abandon the village entirely during winter.

However, as there is little work in the cold season, many travel to the district headquarters in Phungling or to the capital, Kathmandu, mainly to visit relatives and attend to personal matters. Most of them usually return to the village only around mid-February.

In Mustang, winter migration has shifted campaigning away from villages to cities. Ram Bahadur Gurung of Marang in Lo-Ghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality has been in Kathmandu for one and half months and is unsure if he will return to vote.

“If there is heavy snowfall, elections will be almost impossible,” he said, predicting turnout of under 60 percent even if polling goes ahead. In ward 5 of Lomanthang Rural Municipality, with a population of around 900, there are only 50 to 60 people present. According to Pasang Gurung, the executive committee member of the local unit, most residents will not return until April when temperatures rise.

Candidates have followed voters south. CPN-UML candidate Indradhara Bista has been canvassing in Pokhara and plans to meet voters in Kathmandu. “Most upper Mustang residents are here for winter and business,” he said, though he admitted that bringing voters back without exceeding the Election Commission’s spending limits was difficult.

District authorities have identified nine polling centres in Mustang as sensitive due to weather and terrain, with officials warning that sudden snowfall could block access for days.

Manang faces similar constraints. In Narpa Bhumi Rural Municipality, most houses remain empty, and all five polling centres have been classified as highly sensitive. Election materials must be carried on horseback for days before polling, while ballot boxes are flown back by helicopter. “Weather and geography mean turnout could be low,” said Govinda Prasad Aryal, information officer at the District Election Office.

In Gorkha’s Chumnubri Rural Municipality, candidates have yet to reach high-altitude settlements such as Samdo, Samagaun and Chhekampar, most of whose residents are currently in Kathmandu or Pokhara. Nima Lama, the rural municipality’s chairman, said villagers would return for Lhosar in early February and stay for the election, but acknowledged that campaigning and ballot transport remained daunting in Nepal’s fourth-largest rural municipality by area.

Winter elections in mountain districts repeatedly expose a mismatch between the national electoral calendar and the seasonal rhythms of mountain life. Despite logistical preparations, local leaders warn that unless weather conditions improve, thousands of voters may once again be unable to exercise their democratic right.