Kathmandu, 21 December — With 73 days remaining until Nepal’s House of Representatives election, the Election Commission has announced updated inclusion quotas for candidates under the proportional representation (PR) system.
According to the House of Representatives Proportional Election (First Amendment) Directive, 2025, political parties must submit a closed list of between 11 and 110 candidates for the PR vote. The election is scheduled for 21 February.
The revised quotas are based on data from the 2021 National Census and amendments to Schedule 1 of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017. Parties are required to submit candidate lists reflecting population-based representation of inclusive groups.
- Dalit: 13.44%
- Indigenous Nationalities: 28.72%
- Khas Arya: 30.28%
- Madhesi: 16.15%
- Tharu: 6.52%
- Muslim: 4.89%
At least 50% of candidates from each inclusive group must be women. If the calculated number of women candidates results in a fraction, it must be rounded up to the next whole number.
Parties must also ensure that at least 4.3% of candidates are from backward regions, and representation of persons with disabilities is mandatory.
Candidate lists must be approved by the party’s central committee and submitted along with certified documentation, including citizenship certificates or voter ID cards, and proof of inclusion in the voters’ roll.
Eligibility criteria require candidates to be Nepali citizens, at least 25 years old, listed in a local voters’ register, not holding a position of profit, and not disqualified under federal law.
The Election Commission has set 13–14 January, from 10:00 to 16:00, as the deadline for submitting proportional representation candidate lists.
