Nepal’s election takes shape as parties file nominations

A former Prime Minister was denied a ticket. Another could face a tough battle. The third had to choose his constituency cautiously. Mayors quit their offices midway, eyeing the national stage. Ministers in the interim government formed to oversee elections resigned to contest the polls.

With the close of nominations, the contours of Nepal’s next parliamentary contest have begun to take shape. Nominations were filed on Tuesday (January 20, 2026), setting the country on course for polls on March 5, necessitated by the September Gen Z protests, which left 76 people dead.

The Election Commission said that as many as 3,484 individuals have filed their candidacies for 165 constituencies across the country, with 2,297 fielded by 68 parties and the rest contesting independently.

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As many as 19 million people, out of Nepal’s 30 million population, are eligible to vote, with around one million voters — mostly youth — added to the rolls after the protests.

As nomination day approached, attention focused on three former Prime Ministers — Sher Bahadur Deuba, K.P. Sharma Oli, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal — the principal actors in Nepal’s political musical chairs over a decade.

Mr. Deuba, 79, a five-time Prime Minister, appears to be the biggest loser. His party, the Nepali Congress, had been embroiled in infighting since the Gen Z protests. A special convention of the party not only ousted Mr. Deuba as president but also denied him a ticket. The winner of every election since 1991, this could mark an end to Mr. Deuba’s 34-year-long political career.

Mr. Oli, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), has chosen Jhapa-5. He won this constituency in his home district in the last election with one of the highest vote counts. Yet, some observers wonder if the political landscape may be shifting.

Oli vs Balen

Mr. Oli, 73, was Prime Minister during the Gen Z protests and has been one of their most vocal critics. After 19 people — later revised to 22 — were killed in police firings on September 8, he was forced to resign the next day. During his nomination filing on Tuesday, the three-time Prime Minister took a jab at the protests, saying those who burned down the country need to be defeated.

Balendra Shah, who won the Kathmandu mayoral position in 2022 independently, has filed his nomination from Jhapa-5 to contest against Mr. Oli. Known popularly as Balen, he enjoys a huge fan following and is running on the ticket of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).

At the height of the two-day Gen Z protests, protesters backed him for the post of Prime Minister. Only after he threw his weight behind Sushila Karki was the former Chief Justice appointed Prime Minister on September 12 to oversee elections.

For Mr. Dahal, also a three-time Prime Minister, picking a constituency was challenging. Since his first parliamentary elections in 2008, he has frequently shifted constituencies. This time, Mr. Dahal has chosen Rukum, a Maoist stronghold during the insurgency. After the Gen Z protests, he shed the “Maoist” label and now serves as coordinator of the Nepali Communist Party — a bloc of left-leaning forces he has stitched together.

Nepal’s parties traditionally do not fight elections by projecting a single prime ministerial candidate. The RSP broke this trend, projecting Mr. Shah rather than party president Rabi Lamichhane as Prime Minister. The UML has projected Mr. Oli.

Now that the Nepali Congress has ousted Mr. Deuba, it has projected newly elected party president Gagan Thapa as the prime ministerial candidate. In a surprise move, Mr. Thapa, 49, is not contesting from his previous constituency, Kathmandu-4, but has shifted to Sarlahi-4 in the Madhesh plains, bordering India. He faces Amresh Kumar Singh, a former Congress member who quit the party before the last elections and won independently. Mr. Singh has now joined the RSP.

National stage

Mr. Shah is not the only mayor stepping down early to fight the elections. Renu Dahal and Hark Sampang are also running for national office. After resigning as the mayor of Dharan, Mr. Sampang has formed Shram Shakti Party and is contesting from Sunsari-1, east of Kathmandu.

Ms. Dahal, who resigned as Chitwan mayor, is the daughter of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and is contesting from her father’s former constituency, Chitwan-3.

Mr. Lamichhane, a former TV host, launched the RSP just six months before the 2022 elections. He won with a huge margin, catapulting his new party into the position of the country’s fourth-largest force. He became Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister but was forced to resign over dual citizenship charges. He won the subsequent by-election in April 2023 with even more votes, but was jailed over embezzlement allegations, which he denies. He was released on bail on December 18.

On January 20, when he was on his way to file his candidacy in Chitwan-2, a court imposed a new bail of Rs. 10 million; Mr. Lamichhane, 51, filed via power of attorney.

Ministers quit to contest

As nomination day approached, ministers began resigning one after another.

Kulman Ghising, former chief of Nepal’s electricity office credited with ending decades-long power outages, was the first to resign. He has formed the Ujyalo Nepal Party and is contesting from Kathmandu-3. He briefly joined hands with the RSP, but the partnership lasted less than 12 days. Mr. Ghising aspires to the prime ministerial chair.

Subsequently, Sports Minister Bablu Gupta and Communications Minister Jagadish Kharel resigned, both running on the RSP ticket.

On the morning of nomination day, Education Minister Mahabir Pun, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, quit the government and filed his candidacy independently from Myagdi, a Himalayan district northwest of Kathmandu where he was born.

As nominations closed on Tuesday (January 20, 2026), Prime Minister Karki said the country had successfully crossed another milestone towards elections.

“I would like to urge fellow citizens to enthusiastically participate in the elections,” Ms. Karki wrote on X.