National Assembly election on January 25: What you need to know

On Sunday, the government will hold the National Assembly (NA) election to fill 17 of the 19 seats whose tenure expires on March 4, 2026.

Of the remaining two seats, one is unopposed in the Open category seat in Koshi Province, already secured by Sunil Bahadur Thapa from Nepali Congress (NC), while the other will be nominated by President Ramchandra Paudel on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

NA members are chosen by an electoral college consisting of provincial assembly lawmakers and mayors, chairpersons, and their deputies from municipalities and rural municipalities.

What is the National Assembly?

Article 83 of the Constitution of Nepal states that Nepal shall have one bicameral federal parliament, meaning two houses: the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house, and the 59-member National Assembly, the upper house.

Of 59 members, eight are elected from seven provinces each, totalling 56 members, and three are nominated by the President following the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. The upper house is the permanent chamber of the federal parliament, meaning it cannot be dissolved, with one-third of its members retiring every two years. It alone may exercise all the legislative functions of the federal parliament in the absence of the lower house.

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How are federal laws made in Nepal?

According to Section 5 of the National Assembly Election Act, 2018, the government must hold elections for new members 35 days before the term of one-third members expires, to ensure continuity.

Votes within this college are weighted unequally: each provincial assembly member’s vote carries a weight of 53, while local-level representatives’ votes are weighted at 19, as determi\ned by the Election Commission (EC).

Who are the retiring NA members?

Even though the tenure of Bhagawati Neupane and Narayan Kaji Shrestha expires on March 4, they resigned early to contest the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5. Bamdev Gautam initially resigned for the same reason, but later withdrew.

Who will be voting and who is contesting?

According to the voter’s list published by the EC, the electoral college includes 2,038 members: 545 provincial assembly members and 1,493 local-level representatives. Based on party strength, the weighted vote distribution is:

Provincial Assembly Members (weight 53 each)

Local-level Representatives (weight 19 each)

Combined weighted votes

What’s the NC-UML strategy?

NC and UML have formed an alliance for the upcoming NA election, with them contesting for 10 and seven seats, respectively. With a combined weighted vote of 47,244 out of 57,252, the alliance is strongly positioned to win all 17 contested seats, while NC’s Sunil Bahadur Thapa has already secured the unopposed seat in Koshi.

Notably, no NC members are retiring in this cycle. With 11 new lawmakers set to enter, the party’s strength in the upper house will rise to 26 seats, making it the single largest party in the upper house.

The UML, meanwhile, is set to lose seven members due to retirement from its current tally of nine after Bhagawati Neupane has already resigned. With seven likely entrants, the party’s strength will stand at nine seats.

The current largest force in the National Assembly is the Nepali Communist Party, which holds 24 seats after the resignations of Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Bamdev Gautam. If the NC-UML alliance sweeps all the contested seats, the NCP’s strength will drop to 17.

A simple majority in the upper house requires 31 seats to pass ordinary legislation, while a special majority requires 40 seats.