Major political parties have largely ignored women candidates when filing candidacies for the November 20 election to the House of Representatives under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system.
According to the Election Commission, 2,494 persons have filed candidacies in 165 constituencies under FPTP. Among them, only 233 are women, including independents and candidates from minor parties.
CPN-UML has fielded women candidates in 11 of the 144 constituencies where it is contesting the election under FPTP.
CPN (Maoist Center) has seven women candidates while Nepali Congress has five. CPN (Unified Socialist) is vying for 20 FPTP seats but it has fielded only one woman candidate.
There is no woman candidate under FPTP from the two Madhes-based parties, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP).
Women candidates from major parties
CPN-UML
- Sunsari-3 – Bhagawati Chaudhary
- Dhanusha-3 – Juli Kumari Mahato
- Udayapur-1 – Manju Chaudhary
- Bara-3 – Jwala Kumari Saha
- Syangja-2 – Padma Aryal
- Kaski-2 – Bidya Bhattarai
- Baglung-2 – Manju Sharma Chalise
- Dang-1 – Shanta Chaudhary
- Dang-3 – Komal Oli
- Doti – Gauri Oli
- Kanchanpur-3 – Niru Devi Pal
CPN (Maoist Center)
- Lalitpur-3 – Pampha Bhusal
- Kathmandu-9 – Kalpana Dhamala
- Kathmandu-7 – Manushi Yami Bhattarai
- Kathmandu-32 – Onsari Gharti
- Dang-3 – Rekha Sharma
- Jumla – Goma Gautam
- Kanchanpur-3 – Bina Magar
Nepali Congress
- Tehrathum – Sita Gurung
- Morang-2 – Sujata Koirala
- Siraha-2 – Chitralekha Yadav
- Makawanpur-1 – Mahalaxmi Upadhyaya ‘Dina’
- Arghakhanchi – Pushpa Bhusal
CPN (Unified Socialist)
- Gulmi-2 – Ram Kumari Jhakri
