The Election Commission said about six percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by 9:30am.

Voting is ongoing smoothly across the country with minor incidents in a very few places, Election Commissioner Sagun Shumsher Rana told the Post.

Nepal Police confirmed that apart from minor disagreements at a few locations, no serious problems had occurred. Police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle said, “Some jostling is expected during elections, but no major issues have arisen. We are ensuring that the voting process remains peaceful throughout the day.”

A brief dispute occurred in Sarlahi-4, while in Udayapur, a police firearm was accidentally discharged at Tavakhola (Kha) polling centre in Katari-3, causing minor damage to a ballot box containing three votes. Polling resumed quickly at both locations.

A total of 18,903,689 voters are eligible to elect 275 members of the House of Representatives, up by 915,119 from the 2022 elections. About 52 percent of voters are aged between 18 and 40.

There are 6,541 candidates in the fray. Under the first-past-the-post system, 3,406 candidates—including 1,143 independents—are contesting 165 seats. For the 110 proportional representation seats, 3,135 candidates are listed under 63 parties.

The Election Commission has set up 23,112 polling centres across 10,963 polling stations and deployed 341,113 security personnel, including 149,000 temporary election police. The commission aims to publish first-past-the-post results within 24 hours after counting begins.