Although the Election Commission has been emphasizing voter education programs in every election with the aim of reducing invalid votes, the number of invalid votes is increasing. In the 35 years since the political change of 2046/47, 7 general elections have been held. And the 8th general election is scheduled for 21 Falgun. Of the previous 7 elections, the number of invalid votes has gradually decreased in the general elections of 2051 and 2056. However, since 2064, the graph of invalid votes has been on the rise.

While the country's average literacy rate has improved significantly in the four decades since 2046. At the time of the 2048 general election, the country's literacy rate was 39.6 percent. At that time, invalid (badar) votes were 4.42 percent of the total votes cast. In the 30 years since then, the country's literacy rate has improved significantly. According to the 2078 census, the literacy rate has reached 76 percent. In this way, the increase in the literate population should have automatically reduced the number of invalid votes.

In the 2079 House of Representatives election, 5.06 percent of the total votes cast were invalid. Which was more than the 2048 election. The commission had spent 250 million rupees on voter education in the 2079 election. According to the Election Commission, more votes have been invalidated because voters were unable to correctly place the swastika symbol on the symbol of their chosen candidate or party. 

Former Chief Election Commissioner Surya Prasad Shrestha, who conducted the 2048 general election, says that the main reason for the increase in invalid votes in recent elections is the large number of political parties in the election competition. “With the increase in the number of parties, the ballot papers have become untidy when all the symbols are put on them. There were not so many parties before, but it has increased since 2064,” he said. “The situation where voters get confused while looking for the election symbol on the ballot paper has also increased the number of invalid votes.” Shrestha said that in 2048, a program was held on a ‘small scale’ to provide information about the voting process rather than a formal voter education program like the one we have now. Shrestha says that when there was no social media or media like the one we have now, the clarity of the ballot papers helped voters. However, he says that the number of invalid votes remaining the same or increasing in 35 years has raised questions about the election reform program.

In the 2048 election, 65.15 percent of the 11.91 million voters, 7.291 million, 84 people voted. At that time, 4.42 percent of the votes cast, 322,023 votes, were invalid. After the 2048 election, the percentage of invalid votes was decreasing from the 2051 and 2056 elections. In the 2051 mid-term elections, 3.16 percent of votes were invalid and in the 2056 general elections, 2.79 percent of votes were invalid. It started to rise again from the 2064 Constituent Assembly election. In 2064, 5.15 percent of votes were invalid, in 2070, 4.96 percent of votes were invalid, and in 2074, 5.18 percent of votes were invalid. In the 2079 election, 11 million 47 thousand 34 out of 17 million 988 thousand 570 voters voted.

In that election, 5.06 percent of the votes cast by 559 thousand 76 voters were invalid. In the proportional representation election, 5.09 percent of votes were invalid. The highest number of invalid votes was in Salyan (8.81 percent) and the lowest number was in Manang (0.39 percent). In this way, it is seen that more votes were invalid in places with more voters and less votes were invalid in places with fewer voters. In Sunsari-4 (7.99), Rolpa (7.92), Doti (7.82), Kanchanpur-2 (7.62), Rupandehi-4 (7.40) and Banke-2 (7.33 percent) votes were invalid. In Banke-3 (6.89), Saptari-1 (6.72), Mahottari-4 (6.65), Sunsari-2 (6.62), Siraha-4 (6.58), Udayapur-1 (6.53) and Jhapa-2 (6.53 percent) votes were invalid. In Mustang, which has a low voter population, 1.21 percent votes were invalid, in Bhaktapur 2.59 percent, in Rasuwa 2.78 percent, in Lalitpur-2 2.79 percent, and in Lamjung 2.97 percent. 

According to a study conducted by the Election Commission, the number of invalid votes was higher in areas with low female literacy. Provincially, the highest number of invalid votes was in Sudurpaschim (5.70 percent), followed by Madhesh (5.46 percent), Karnali (5.26 percent), Lumbini (5.04 percent), Koshi (4.73 percent), Gandaki (4.63 percent), and Bagmati (4.16 percent). In Madhesh, only 54.70 percent of the total literate population is female literate. The literacy rate of women is 65.50 in Sudurpaschim, 67.30 in Karnali, 69.90 in Lumbini, 72.40 in Koshi, 73.80 in Gandaki and 75.20 in Bagmati. 

Indigenous rights activist Stella Tamang, who has been involved in election observation, says that the number of invalid votes cannot be linked to literacy alone. She says that the literacy rate is not the only reason why the invalid vote percentage has remained the same even though the literacy rate has doubled compared to 2048. ‘It has been found that even conscious voters have used voting as a means of expressing anger, there is no provision for NOTA in the ballot paper. People who are disgusted with political parties and candidates are deliberately getting their votes invalidated. That has also been seen,' said Tamang, who is also an indigenous rights activist, 'On the other hand, some voters have been found to have voted for more than one candidate and to fulfill their religion, they have voted for everyone's symbol. They will vote for this one and for the other. Such votes will definitely be invalid.'

She said that invalid votes have not decreased due to ineffective voter education. She mentioned that it was not seen that voters should have been trained to vote correctly by conducting sufficient sample voting. 'Every vote is equally important. No vote should be wasted,' she said, 'For this, efforts are required from the government, the Election Commission, political parties, and all candidates.'

Shekhar Parajuli, executive director of the Democratic Resource Center Nepal (DRCN), which has been monitoring the elections, says that invalid votes have been around 5 percent. He estimates that this time too, invalid votes may be around the same. 'Out of the votes cast, invalid votes of around 550,000 are a big deal. In some places, the number of invalid votes is more than the margin of victory or defeat. If you had not cast your vote correctly and not allowed it to be invalid, the election results would have made a difference,' said Parajuli, 'The number of invalid votes, which had been decreasing since 2048, increased after the country adopted a mixed electoral system in 2064.' He says that some voters deliberately have their votes invalidated as a form of protest against political parties and candidates. 'There is a tendency to express their anger on the ballot paper instead of venting it. Apart from that, in the previous elections, a voter would end up with 4/4 ballot papers,' he said, 'The alliance between political parties, the size of the ballot paper being large, and the need for a single voter to vote at 4 places have led to the increase in the invalid percentage.' He said that voter education has also not been practical. In some cases, he says, votes are invalidated due to the mistakes of the polling officer and the disorder of the polling station. Even if the signature of the polling officer is missing on the ballot paper, the vote is invalidated. He said that since it is not the fault of the voters, the election staff should also work cautiously. When there are ballot boxes at the same time in a narrow polling station, the ballot that should be cast in one box is also invalid when cast in another box. He said that the commission should pay attention to that too. 

Stating that voter education has not yielded the desired results, he suggested that the commission should pay attention to how it can be made more effective and practical. The Auditor General's report has also suggested that voter education should be made more effective to reduce the percentage of invalid votes. The issue that the expenditure and work done on voter education should be monitored by the regulatory body has also been raised in the Auditor General's report.