Nepal has officially started online voter registration using biometric details from the national ID card system. The new move aims to make the registration process faster and easier for citizens who have struggled with long queues at election offices in recent weeks.
The Election Commission announced that people can now register their names in the voter list through their national identity details starting Thursday. The system connects biometric data such as fingerprints and photos, collected earlier for national ID cards directly with the Election Commission’s voter database.
This decision follows a high-level meeting held at Singha Durbar on Wednesday afternoon under the initiative of Prime Minister Sushila Karki. Officials from the Election Commission and the National ID and Registration Department attended the meeting. According to the Prime Minister’s Press Coordinator Ram Bahadur Rawal, the meeting decided to allow the use of biometric data already collected by the National ID Department for voter registration.
“The Election Commission and the ID Department will complete the necessary legal and technical procedures to move forward with this system,” Rawal said. He added that this decision will benefit people who already have a national ID card but cannot visit election offices in person.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari confirmed that the Commission had approved the plan and that technical teams worked overnight to complete system testing. “Those who have already filled out the online voter registration form but haven’t provided biometric details will now have their data automatically taken from the National ID Department,” Bhandari said.
Director General of the National ID Department, Namaraj Ghimire, stated that biometric data from national ID holders will be shared with the Commission. He added that people registering online must include their national ID number, after which the Commission will handle the rest of the process.
This new system removes the need for citizens to visit election offices just to take photos or provide biometrics again. Many citizens had complained that repeating the same process for both the national ID and voter registration was unnecessary.
The change comes as the voter registration deadline of Kartik 30 approaches. With a sudden rise in applications across the country, offices faced technical issues like server crashes and long waiting times. Generation Z youth groups had even pressured the government and the Election Commission to fix these problems.
In response, the Prime Minister’s Office sent a three-point directive to the Commission, asking it to deploy more staff, use biometric data from the national ID system, and extend the registration deadline if needed.
The Election Commission says the new system is now live and fully functional. Citizens with a national ID can register their names online for the upcoming elections until Kartik 30.
