More than a dozen parties that failed to cross the threshold in the previous two House of Representatives elections are entering the electoral contest again.

To get seats under the proportional electoral system, a threshold of 3 percent of the total votes must be crossed. However, those parties did not even get 1 percent of the votes in the previous two elections. 

Out of the total 275 members of the House of Representatives, 110 are elected through the proportional electoral system. In the House of Representatives elections to be held on 21 Falgun, 64 political parties are competing under the proportional electoral system from 58 election symbols. Of these, 20 parties were unable to get even 1 percent of the votes in the 2079 elections. 12 of these 20 parties participated in the 2074 House of Representatives elections. Even then, they were unable to get 1 percent of the votes. 

Out of the 49 parties that competed under the proportional electoral system in the 2074 House of Representatives elections, 44 parties were able to cross the 'threshold'. At that time, only 5 parties, including UML, Congress, Maoists, RJP Nepal and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, crossed the 'threshold'. The rest did not get seats as they could not get 3 percent of the votes. Similarly, 40 out of 47 parties that contested in the proportional representation in 2079 failed to cross the 'threshold'. Only 7 parties, including UML, Congress, Maoists, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), RPP, JSP Nepal and Janamat, crossed the 'threshold' and won seats. 

The Unified Socialist Party led by former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, which split from the UML in the last general election, also failed to cross the 'threshold'. That party has now merged with the Maoists. Mahantha Thakur-led LOSPA and Resham Chaudhary's Citizen Liberation Party also failed to cross the 'threshold'. This time, these parties are going to go to the elections by merging or forming an alliance with other parties. 

LOSPA has submitted its closed list for the proportional representation to the Election Commission after announcing its merger with the Janata Pragatisheel Party led by Hridayesh Tripathi and the Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party led by Bhrishesh Chandra Lal. LOSPA is also in the process of merging with the Upendra Yadav-led JSP Nepal. Resham has registered a new party and formed the Civil Liberation Party Nepal. This party has submitted its closed list in collaboration with other parties. The old Civil Liberation Party led by Ranjita Shrestha has merged with the NCP.

Small parties have united and formed alliances to reach the 'threshold' for proportional representation. Ten parties are competing under a single election symbol by collaborating in four groups. However, some parties that have consistently received low votes have entered the election fray again without even forming an alliance. Similarly, a dozen new parties that were formed this year have also submitted their closed list for proportional representation. Some new parties have also formed an alliance.

One of the parties that has not been able to cross the 'threshold' despite participating in consecutive elections is the Nepal Janata Party. The party participated in the 2064 and 2070 Constituent Assembly elections and the 2074 and 2079 House of Representatives elections. However, it could not win a single seat in any of those elections. This is the fifth election for the party that has entered the election contest again this time. The party has submitted a closed list with the names of 62 people for the proportional representation. 'It doesn't matter how many votes we got. We are in a struggle. After becoming a political party, we had to participate in the elections,' said party chairman Tribhuvannath Pathak. The party has carried the issue of a Hindu nation.

Jayavanta Bikram Shah launched the 'National Liberation Movement Nepal Party' in 2065 after breaking away from the Maoists. Since then, the party, which has participated in the 2070 Constituent Assembly, 2074 and 2079 general elections, has submitted its closed list for the proportional representation for the fourth time. The party could not even get 0.5 percent of the votes in the previous three elections. The party chairman Shah, who is also raising the issue of a modified democratic republic, expects to win 2/4 seats by crossing the 'threshold' this time. Why participate in the elections again even if the expected votes are not coming? He says, 'I have been participating in the elections out of a sense of responsibility towards the country and the people. We must do something for the country until we die.’ 

After the change of 062/063, the issue of identity became heated. Political parties were opened all over the Madhesh hills with that issue. One of the parties that was opened at that time was the Federal Democratic National Forum led by Kumar Lingden. In the 064 Constituent Assembly, the party won 2 seats on the proportional representation side with 71,000 votes. The vote percentage was only 0.67. There was a system in which 335 members of the 601-member Constituent Assembly were elected through the proportional representation system. There was no ‘threshold’. At that time, the Nepal Parivar Dal, which got 23,000 (0.22 percent) votes, also won one seat.

Since there was no ‘threshold’, the Federal Democratic National Forum Tharuhat, which got 21,000 votes in the 070 Constituent Assembly, also got one seat. Lingden’s party boycotted the 070 Constituent Assembly elections. It participated in the 074 and 079 House of Representatives elections. The vote percentage remained within 0.25 percent in both elections. However, the party has not given up. This time, it is contesting the elections again. 'There is no point in giving up after entering politics. The main thing is the issue. The issue of identity and political rights that we have raised is always relevant,' he says, 'We will fight on every front to prevent the agenda from dying.' This time, he hopes to gain the people's trust. 

The Nepali Congress (BP) party is registered with the commission with the name of Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala. The party with BP's name attached had secured 1,500 votes in the 2074 election. In 2079, it secured 12,502 votes. However, the vote percentage remained at 0.12. Far from the 'threshold' of 3 percent. However, the party has not lost courage. This time too, it is in the election competition. 

Party chairman Sushilman Sherchan claims that preparations are being made to win 5 to 7 seats in the upcoming House of Representatives. "It is natural to have ups and downs in the election results. One should never be disappointed after entering politics. One should remain optimistic," he said, "Our organization is not big either. The media has not supported us either. Opportunists have put the party in trouble. In such a situation, we are constantly struggling." He said that their main political issue is to establish a constitutional monarchy and a Hindu nation. 

The old and established political parties NEMKIPA and Janamorcha did not get even one percent of the votes towards proportional representation in the previous two elections to the House of Representatives. Both these parties have submitted their closed lists for proportional representation this time as well. The list to submit closed lists includes the Mongol National Organization, the CPN (ML) led by former communist leader CP Mainali, the Bahujan Shakti Party, the Rastriya Janmukti Party and the Nepali Janata Dal. These parties have decided to participate in this election even though they could not get even one percent of the votes in consecutive elections. Apart from these, Nepal Democratic Party, CPN-Marxist (Pushpalal), Nepali Party for Nepal, Miteri Party Nepal, Nepal Federal Socialist Party, Bahujan Ekta Party Nepal, and Sachet Nepali Party have entered the election contest this time despite getting low votes in the previous elections. 

A mixed electoral system, both direct and proportional, has been adopted since the 2064 Constituent Assembly elections. Since there was no 'threshold', more than two dozen political parties entered parliament through the proportional system in the 2064 and 2070 Constituent Assembly elections. Since the 2074 elections, the number of parties in parliament has decreased after the establishment of a 'threshold' of three percent. However, the number of parties competing in the elections has not decreased. This time, the largest number of parties are participating in the elections through the proportional system compared to previous times.

Ishwori Prasad Kandel, head of the Department of Politics at Tribhuvan University, comments that such a large number of political parties are being formed and participating in elections in a poor and underdeveloped country like Nepal is not a sign of political culture development. ‘We have not been able to become politically civilized, cultured and sophisticated. The spirit of fulfilling personal ambitions by winning even one seat and bargaining with big parties has worked,’ he said, ‘Political autonomy in a democracy does not only mean opening a party. It has also weakened democracy.’ 

He says that when there are many candidates from the same constituency, 90 percent of the votes divided between them are defeated and those who get 10 percent of the votes win. He comments that the fact that there are many candidates is also a reason for the failure to appreciate the real majority. He mentioned that even in proportional representation, the votes of millions of voters are not appreciated. 

Pre-Election Commissioner Narendra Dahal also says that a large number of parties participate in elections in the hope that some ‘bargaining’ opportunity will arise in politics, and that they will be able to get some facilities from it. ‘The more parties are in competition, the more democratic practices are seen. However, it has also brought challenges and distortions,' he told Kantipur, 'As more parties participate in the elections, the ballot paper has been getting bigger accordingly. There are problems in the election management itself. Voting, counting and results have all been affected by it.' 

Currently, 137 parties are registered with the Election Commission. 93 applications were submitted by 100 political parties to compete in the elections under the proportional electoral system. Within the period given by the Commission from 21-23 Mangsir for registration of parties participating in the elections under the proportional system, 88 political parties applied individually and 12 parties from 5 different groups applied to compete with a single election symbol. Those parties have submitted their closed lists of candidates for the proportional system.