Elections at any level are the main democratic method for voters to express their hopes and aspirations. The more voters participate in elections, the more and more concretely the mandate can be expressed. Voter participation in Nepal's elections has been around 60 percent. On the other hand, invalid votes have also been seen as high.

Which has narrowed the scope of expressing citizens' hopes and aspirations. Elections are not just a process of casting ballots. It is also a search for ensuring that maximum voter participation is ensured and that they vote for the party and candidate of their choice and are not invalidated. On the one hand, low participation, on the other hand, high invalidation rate weakens the broader meaning of elections.

The validity of the available mandates is weakened. Therefore, the government, the Election Commission, political parties and the voters themselves should work hard to increase voter participation and reduce the rate of invalid votes in the upcoming elections.

In the elections held on 21 Falgun, 11.68 million people, or 59.08 percent, voted in the direct elections out of 18.9 million 3 thousand 6 hundred 89 voters. Of the votes cast, 609 thousand 15 votes (5.45 percent) were invalid. On the other hand, 4.10 percent of votes were invalid in the proportional elections. In the 2079 elections, 5.06 percent of votes were invalid in the direct elections.

Similarly, 5.09 percent of votes were invalid in the proportional elections. In the 2074 House of Representatives elections, 5.17 percent of votes were invalid in the direct elections. The Election Commission has not made public the percentage of invalid votes in the proportional elections in the 2074 results report, but a statistical analysis of the votes cast and the votes cast shows that 9.90 percent of votes were invalid.

In the second Constituent Assembly elections of 2070, 4.96 percent of votes were invalid in the direct elections and 3.20 percent of votes were invalid in the proportional elections. In the first Constituent Assembly election of 2064, 5.15 percent of the votes were invalidated in the direct election and 3.26 percent in the proportional election. In 2048, 2051, and 2056, 4.42, 3.16, and 2.75 percent of the votes were invalidated, respectively. Thus, millions of votes are being wasted in every election.

Some reasons have been pointed out for the high rate of invalidation of votes in Nepal. First, the complicated type of ballot paper. Leaving aside this election, in the previous two general elections, voters had to cast two ballot papers each for both the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly. In local elections, voters had to vote for multiple positions at once. This made the voting process complicated.

Similarly, voters were confused when there was a coalition in the election. However, since this time the election was only for the House of Representatives and there was no coalition, the ballot paper was clear. Nevertheless, the invalidation rate remained high. This situation has arisen because the effectiveness of voter education in Nepal is weak. Even though a campaign is being run for voter education before the elections, its effectiveness is not reflected in the increased percentage of invalid votes.

The highest number of invalid votes in 35 years this time also suggests that there is a need to change the format of voter education. Therefore, voter education needs to be made regular, based on the voters' own practice, and technology-friendly. Voting can be included in the curriculum from the school level and model practices can be adopted.

The practice of traditional ballot papers and stamping also plays a role in invalidating ballot papers. Although electronic voting machines are commonly used, around one percent of votes are invalidated due to reasons such as voting for more than one person, not voting for anyone, signing, or being sent by post but rejected. During the 2024 elections, 1.2 percent of votes were invalidated. Due to electronic voting machines, the rate of invalid votes is also low in India.

In the 2024 elections, the invalid vote rate was only 0.16 percent. Since electronic machines detect weaknesses immediately and give voters the opportunity to correct them, the invalid vote rate decreases. Therefore, moving towards the use of electronic voting machines in Nepal can be a way to reduce invalid votes. However, there are also examples where invalid votes have been reduced by using ballot papers and stamps.

For example, in the 2024 elections in Pakistan, the percentage of invalid votes was only 2.9% because ballot papers and stamps were used. Therefore, if voter education can be made more effective, invalid votes can be reduced even if electronic voting machines are used.

During elections, the government is seen encouraging people to vote. The Election Commission is also seen investing in its management and voter education. However, another main concern for elections is that political parties are not seen taking voter education as a campaign. They only ask for votes for themselves and their candidates, but they are not seen running a campaign on voter education to vote in a way that will be valid.

Therefore, in the upcoming elections, political parties should also take the initiative to encourage voters to participate in the elections and vote correctly. They should make it a part of their election campaign. Similarly, the Commission should make it aware that the signature of the election officer should not be missed. To make the overall election process transparent and meaningful, support from government and non-government organizations should be sought as needed.