Kathmandu. Acting Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission, Ram Prasad Bhandari, has urged the voters to participate enthusiastically and actively in the election to the House of Representatives.

Speaking at a press conference organized at the EC on the eve of the election today, he urged the voters to actively participate in the election, saying all preparations for the election have been completed.

On the occasion, Acting Chief Commissioner Bhandari called on all the people to cast their valuable votes by participating in the election being held as a constitutional exercise to renew the democratic legitimacy. A total of 65 political parties are competing under 61 election symbols under the first-past-the-post electoral system. A total of 3,406 candidates including 3,017 male, 388 female and one other are contesting in the first-past-the-post election.

Similarly, a total of 3,135 candidates including 1,363 male and 1,772 female are contesting under the PR system. The elections will be held for 165 constituencies under first-past-the-post (FPTP) and 110 constituencies under proportional representation.

A total of 1,8903,689 voters including 9,633,358 male, 9,240,131 female and 200 third gender voters are eligible to cast their ballots. Likewise, 186,142 temporary voters have been enlisted, according to the EC.

A total of 23,112 polling stations have been set up at 10,967 polling stations across the country. A total of 143 temporary polling stations have been set up. A total of 79,727 Nepal Army, 75,797 Nepal Police, 34,567 Armed Police Force, 1,921 National Investigation Police personnel and 149,090 Election Police personnel have been deployed for election security.

A total of 2.15 lakh employees will be deployed for the election. The EC has already printed a total of 422,51,200 ballot papers under the first-past-the-post and proportional representation category. Four international organizations and 39 national organizations have been mobilized to observe the elections.