Last month Nepal was officially released on Google Street View, making it possible to virtually explore the streets of more than 60 cities and scenic highways, hopefully boosting <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/greening-nepal-s-tourism">business and tourism</a>. Just open up <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@27.6598523,85.3377024,14z?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkwMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">maps.google.com</a>, click on the little yellow Peg Man, and drag him to an area on the map. In future, Street View Nepal may serve as an important archive of what Nepal used to look like.&nbsp; Nepal is the 107th country to get comprehensive Street View coverage, and the fourth in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/south-asia-2040-qxr16oup">South Asia</a> after Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.&nbsp; “We used two cars, a smaller one for narrower alleys and a bigger car for wider roads,” explains Nishant Nair, who leads a team that oversees outsourced Street View operations. Last year, a dark grey Hyundai Santro was spotted in Kathmandu with an NCTech iSTAR Pulsar, a 360-degree camera used to capture and stitch together Street View images.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250906140956_902bedfcd7eee077e522c04b5a9582e5811a26caa43f7e1edfd69fd12a7cdd7c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250906140956_902bedfcd7eee077e522c04b5a9582e5811a26caa43f7e1edfd69fd12a7cdd7c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1444" height="821" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> </figure>  In July, the process ran into problems in Bharatpur, where locals thought the car was surveying the alignment of the East-West Railway. So they torched the car and detained the surveyors. Bharatpur today has zero coverage on Google Street View.&nbsp; &nbsp;The maps have satellite images with photos from Street View Cars or contributors. The data is from official street maps. Says Nair: “Our <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/can-democracy-survive-ai">AI algorithms </a>can then analyse photos for street names, turn restrictions, and number of lanes to build a comprehensive map of the country.”&nbsp; From the pictures, Google’s AI can also extract information about ‘places of interest’, helping small businesses be visible on the internet.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250906140956_c22db31f11b88901af634aad930a5167d5c8ffb8de5ebb0beb65c2b359710068.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250906140956_c22db31f11b88901af634aad930a5167d5c8ffb8de5ebb0beb65c2b359710068" data-rendition-name="original" width="3022" height="2056" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>2. A dirt road amidst the far-western hills.</figcaption> </figure>  Dipesh Lamsal, CEO of Mahalaxmi Bikas Bank, says that hotels, restaurants, and tour operators benefit from the maps because it brings global visibility: “For us banks the technology can support Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, helping us confirm locations, assess businesses, and strengthen due diligence.” The network of coverage of Street View is denoted by a road glowing blue, with roads in cities and towns mostly featured. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">The Tarai</a> has a denser road network, the foothills have a few highways connecting main cities, and the mountains do not have blue at all except for some highways and popular trekking routes. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090616090_199a0054207b5a9fa2f640c09ca3432e18d7fc8bb58d453bddc4e3d176f73ce7.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2025090616090_199a0054207b5a9fa2f640c09ca3432e18d7fc8bb58d453bddc4e3d176f73ce7" data-rendition-name="original" width="509" height="327" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>3. Near the Bardia National Park in Western Tarai.</figcaption> </figure>  One of the biggest users of this feature will be Nepalis themselves, as<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/visit-nepal-in-the-monsoon"> domestic travel gets more popular</a> than ever this holiday season. Trekking trails are now also on Google maps with embedded views of scenic areas. What is striking is how similar cities look across Nepal — the same cement ads painted to the sides of buildings, the same shutter pasal, and haphazard overhead wires. Towns on the other side of the border look fundamentally the same except for billboards for Indian companies like Jio Mobile.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090615090_fa41d728dd7114052de9a21310908436853fce3d0487d271687ad8e2ae4f1911.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025090615090_fa41d728dd7114052de9a21310908436853fce3d0487d271687ad8e2ae4f1911" data-rendition-name="original" width="3420" height="2224" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>4. Near Jhiwakhola Devisthan in Baglung, Gandaki.</figcaption> </figure>  Connectivity As ride-sharing and e-commerce expands, tech-based companies need accurate data about locations, and directions to them. Rather than develop their own databases and maps from scratch, it makes sense to use existing Google Maps.&nbsp; Mapping services get paid a small amount every time another app asks to search for a location, or to calculate the optimal route between two specific places. They may also allow auto-completing searches or calculating just the distance between two locations instead of the best route.&nbsp; There is one problem: Nepali companies cannot afford to pay for this data from Google Maps — especially with 1 USD hitting Rs142 this week. And that is where <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/finding-your-way-in-nepal?fbclid=IwAR3Ls8S90Qcjv8CYsuZb2QjaFaMKnOar0L2jDiT3D1o7hx8ipoJRrTUbXDI%2F">Nepali mapping companies </a>like Baato and Galli Maps come in.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090615094_796a828a97ae656832fe1540df13dc6eb79c43cf83d01d37f387548146071b06.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="2025090615094_796a828a97ae656832fe1540df13dc6eb79c43cf83d01d37f387548146071b06" data-rendition-name="original" width="3412" height="2068" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>5. The Kali Gandaki river in Kagbeni.</figcaption> </figure>  “We built Baato because we wanted to empower business, but over time we realised that bad maps isn’t only a business concern, it’s annoying for regular individuals too,” says Prithvi Khakda, Baato’s investor and business developer.&nbsp; One problem Khadka faces is the lack of trained technicians to take existing data about a customer and predict their preferences. Skilled people are rare, and once hired and trained in data manipulation, they will likely emigrate. Khadka’s solution is to use an agency to do the work, but that raises privacy issues. Khadka recently pitched Baato Maps on Shark Tank Nepal, successfully snaring a Rs24 million investment from Hem Raj Dhakal of IME for 40% of the company. Details of the deal will be finalised after Dasain, and Khadka says being on the show has given Baato better visibility: “The dynamic has flipped. Companies are now coming to us, instead of us going to them.” One of the new clients is all-electric ride-hailing service eDrive Nepal.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090615098_11c95467cdecdadc8d1683a80f533e7839395f37180910d04a7add888e168b18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="2025090615098_11c95467cdecdadc8d1683a80f533e7839395f37180910d04a7add888e168b18" data-rendition-name="original" width="3086" height="2122" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>6. A central Nepal sunset at Tanahunsar in Gandaki.</figcaption> </figure>  Baato Maps’ main selling point is accuracy: it updates the changing nature of streets and locales with verification tools so users do not waste time chasing dead ends. “Building a map is challenging because it reflects all the changes that happen in real life,” says Khadka. &nbsp; Baato also makes it quick to find areas that would be of immediate locale interest, such as ATMs, bus stops, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/nepal-turns-on-the-electric-switch?%20waitfor%20delay%20%270%3A0%3A15%27%20--%20=">EV Charging stations</a>. In future it will recommend local restaurants and businesses to customers based on location, and perhaps tie-up with IME Pay’s inDrive.&nbsp; Galli maps serves companies like Hamrobazar, WorldLink, eSewa, Foodmandu, Sajilo Rides, and others. Founder Raj Bikram Maharjan says the company got a start from the government’s attempt to solve the addressing problem by numbering houses in 1998.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250906150912_6c4f8b729a9532a6e152bc8f37dd66f14e9be1aec11e459fed8fd72a90f386d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250906150912_6c4f8b729a9532a6e152bc8f37dd66f14e9be1aec11e459fed8fd72a90f386d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3420" height="2224" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>7. A busy Thamel Street in Kathmandu.</figcaption> </figure>  Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/navigating-nepal-with-new-digital-maps">Navigating Nepal with new digital maps</a>, Shristi Karki “That was a revolutionary concept, but there was actually no way to see the numbers and use them to locate, and Lalitpur then numbered houses in 2019, but had the same problem,” recalls Maharjan who faced the issue firsthand when he tried to order an oximeter for his sick mother during Covid and was stuck giving directions on the phone for half an hour. Galli Maps also has a 360 degree street view feature, covering Kathmandu, Pokhara, Everest Base Camp, and Annapurna Base Camp, although it is not something it spends a lot of resources to maintain. Maharjan is excited about Google Street View now being a thing, and used to contribute to the service in 2014. Google was quite stealthy about carrying out mapping, but they need not have been because when Galli went to the Ministry of Communication and Technology, it said it did not need permission because it was not filming, just pictures.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250906150912_7bb3ca1250da082fbf76134db866498a35d6dd3b3655cf7a7d344d269882f21e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250906150912_7bb3ca1250da082fbf76134db866498a35d6dd3b3655cf7a7d344d269882f21e" data-rendition-name="original" width="3018" height="2122" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>8. The Pushpal Highway in Lamidanda in Kosi.</figcaption> </figure>  Galli does work with the government in other ways: re-mapping locations every year to update data, and also recent information from the Department of Roads. It has also tried a reporting feature so users could report <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/don-t-go-quietly-into-the-night">accidents, potholes</a>, trash buildups, and fires. This feature was scrapped after government departments did nothing about the complaints.&nbsp; Galli is planning for more use cases for its map application in future, including live tracking of festivals like<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-legend-behind-the-myth-of-indra-jatra"> Indra Jatra</a>, which this year starts on 6 September with chariot pulling.&nbsp; “I love to attend these jatra, but the problem is nobody knows exactly where the rath or lakhey are at any given time. Locals give directions, but the processions have moved by then,” says Bikram.&nbsp; Besides Baato and Galli, there are companies like Thegana which look to solve the addressing problem by digitising locations by assigning unique Thegana Codes to them. Another is Trackon Nepal, which offers vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions using small GPS devices and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/privacy-is-power?%2F=">mobile data</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090616090_da5aeb44d1adf0a475320759b44bc17bba5c00af173977ddb8441592ba11f42c.png" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025090616090_da5aeb44d1adf0a475320759b44bc17bba5c00af173977ddb8441592ba11f42c" data-rendition-name="original" width="508" height="315" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>9. Dadhauli in the central Tarai.</figcaption> </figure>  <h2>Trekking Views</h2> Google Street View covers roads, but what about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayan-highs">Nepal’s trekking trails</a>? Now that the two main mobile telephone providers have built towers along the main trekking routes, it is possible to geolocate on online maps that show hiking paths. Better coverage would give trekkers an idea of the facilities they can expect en route, views that await them, and even weather alerts to warn of impending blizzards, landslides or avalanches.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250906150916_07b41580d22e3fa091da078cabba1bba35b28f2d2b0e30fe7acce329982370de.png" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250906150916_07b41580d22e3fa091da078cabba1bba35b28f2d2b0e30fe7acce329982370de" data-rendition-name="original" width="586" height="778" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> </figure>  As more Nepalis travel within the country, they are uploading photos along the way. Two areas in the mountains that are partially covered on Google Street View are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/glory-and-risk-on-himalayan-peaks">the Annapurnas and the Everest Trail</a>. In Annapurna, the coverage is along the Beni-Tatopani-Jomson-Kagbeni route, including of the Kali Gandaki River. Most contributors are individuals.&nbsp; In the Khumbu area, there was a concerted effort in 2014 by a Google Maps team to create videos and an interactive website with places to explore in Lukla, Namche Bazaar, Thame, Khumjung and Phortse. Explorable views of the German Bakery at Lukla Airport, a Yak Parking Lot, and the Sir Edmund Hillary School reveal what life is like in the area.&nbsp; This is a project that could be undertaken quite easily by the government working perhaps with tour operators and individual <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply">trekkers</a> with 360 degree cameras that cost about $200. Documenting routes in the Far-West hills, perhaps showing that facilities do exist, could be vital to increasing tourism and the economy in the region.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090616094_468fea34380f2f81a04f67044e3d93bdddd4610b2bd543b1ff5199f85b41e4a6.png" data-media-id="editor_25" data-image-id="2025090616094_468fea34380f2f81a04f67044e3d93bdddd4610b2bd543b1ff5199f85b41e4a6" data-rendition-name="original" width="555" height="316" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal online"> <figcaption>10. The Himalaya in the north-eastern corner of Nepal.</figcaption> </figure>

Vishad Raj Onta

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Navigating Nepal online

Nama Raj Budhathoki was doing his PhD in the US when he came back to Nepal in 2009 and made plans to have dinner with a friend. He received a long, complicated email from his friend with directions to his home.&nbsp; Detailed as his friend’s instructions were, it was still difficult to find the house following landmarks.&nbsp; “Navigating in Nepal was a nightmare, I remember it being a waste of time and energy,” Budhathoki recalls. “I hoped that one day we would be able to solve this problem.” In 2011, Budhathoki completed his PhD with a focus on OpenStreetMap, an open-source global geographic database maintained by volunteers and contributors from across the world. He came back to Nepal, and in 2013 founded <a href="https://kathmandulivinglabs.org/">Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL)</a>, a mapping initiative to build on the OpenStreetMap movement that he had introduced to Nepal. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/finding-your-way-in-nepal">Finding your way in Nepal</a>, Prithvi Jung Khadka “Governments make maps, but more from their perspective to govern and make their own decisions,” says Budhathoki, who is currently with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) as the Regional Director of the Open Mapping Hub – Asia Pacific. “OpenSourceMap is necessary for a country like Nepal because we do not have other relevant free maps accessible to people, its value lies in people being able to map what they are interested in,” he adds. Kathmandu Living Labs eventually worked on disaster response, using crowdsourced mapping to aid relief agencies and volunteers to plan and target their relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.&nbsp; While the importance of digital navigation tools and technologies was better realised after the earthquake, their uses have expanded in the last few years — especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns which led to an e-commerce boom in Nepal.&nbsp; After the lockdowns, delivery and ride-sharing services have seen significant growth, and digital navigation is central to such services. But navigation in Nepal is trickier than in other countries. The streets are not consistently named or numbered, and house numbers are either poorly assigned or not assigned at all. Most Nepalis rely on landmarks like temples, historic buildings, trees, and even garbage dumps to find their way around.&nbsp; “Localised maps are crucial to Nepalis because the way we navigate is very different to the way people navigate in the West,” says Budhathoki.&nbsp; Recognising the unique navigational challenge in Nepal, civic-tech companies have begun to develop navigation applications that are contextualised to Nepali communities.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230922150916_bb502868c3d3ef8485c8383ac17c50229db8d3bd95638a73553f0b1ec870d3b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230922150916_bb502868c3d3ef8485c8383ac17c50229db8d3bd95638a73553f0b1ec870d3b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="828" loading="lazy" alt="Baato map"> <figcaption>Baato Maps</figcaption> </figure>  Baato Maps, developed by Kathmandu Living Labs itself, is one such service. It was introduced to the public as a navigation app in 2023. Galli Maps, another nav app was first launched in Kirtipur before spreading across Nepal. “We started Baato because there is a huge problem not only in navigation in Nepal but also in mobility,” says Prithvi Jung Khadka of Baato. “There is a huge gap in mobility infrastructure and it was clear Nepal needed more reliable maps.” Raj Bikram Maharjan, an aeronautical engineer, built drones in his spare time which proved to be useful in the aftermath of the earthquake when Nepal required them to map out heritage reconstruction work.&nbsp; Maharjan left his job in aviation to work on 3D heritage mapping full-time and also made maps for local governments. When the pandemic hit in 2020, it took some personal experiences with delivery services for Maharjan to realise the challenges Nepalis and navigation-based businesses faced because Nepal’s alleys and buildings were not properly represented by global navigation services like Google Maps.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-e-conomy-rapidly-goes-digital">Nepal’s e-conomy rapidly goes digital</a>, Saniaa Shah “Other countries use navigation-based technologies such as delivery and ride-sharing services because they are convenient, but in Nepal, it has expanded because it is a necessity," says Maharjan. “And localised maps are crucial to such services. If there are inefficient maps, neither navigation-based businesses nor everyday life in Nepal can be sustainable.” And so Maharjan along with his friends Janam Maharjan and Ashon Shakya set out to develop a navigation service that recognised alleyways, small road networks, and buildings in Nepal.&nbsp; They collected mapping data from OpenStreetMaps, GPS, 360-degree cameras, their own drone imaging technology as well as from local governments, who were loath to share data initially even as they had begun to number houses — something that the general public had no idea about.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230922150920_97d8d7f6dd2a531df13cc02c12fc09fe9782442e6cf1e97c03b0dc4be77b63e3.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230922150920_97d8d7f6dd2a531df13cc02c12fc09fe9782442e6cf1e97c03b0dc4be77b63e3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1806" height="814" loading="lazy" alt="Galli app"> <figcaption>Gali Maps</figcaption> </figure>  “Nepal does not necessarily have a culture of sharing data, and we spent a lot of time explaining to government agencies and local governments why open data was crucial,” notes Maharjan. “That was a challenge, but once Kirtipur agreed to share its data, other municipalities followed suit.” However, since local navigation apps are still at a nascent stage, not only are Nepal’s institutions hesitant to share data, they also do not want to use the data provided by such services.&nbsp; And while individual users seem to be taking to the applications, &nbsp;most services dependent on navigation technology still rely on established global navigation software and applications.&nbsp; There are other challenges. Crowdsourced mapping as well as Nepal-based navigation apps are meant to be participatory, say digital mapping experts, but the fact that individuals and institutions are using those services has not necessarily meant that they contribute back to mapping at similar levels.&nbsp; Although much of Nepal has access to mobile technology, internet use is stuck at 65%, which means the flow of information and data is such that cities and densely populated areas with robust infrastructures are better mapped than rural Nepal.&nbsp; Additionally, open-source mapping also means that data might be collected by ordinary people in a way that is not always accurate or updated.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230922150920_93183c6619f6bec34efbce66e1edc9e2c38cc8d7425b7290c9c2b37a1210386b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230922150920_93183c6619f6bec34efbce66e1edc9e2c38cc8d7425b7290c9c2b37a1210386b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Navigating Nepal"> <figcaption>Photo: Bikram Rai/NT Archive</figcaption> </figure>  “Maps are constantly changing, and keeping that in mind, we have to work to make sure that our virtual maps better reflect the reality of Nepal while encouraging users to contribute at the same time,” says Khadka of Baato. But navigation services are making progress. Baato Maps has digitised public transportation and made transportation information available on the application. Galli Maps is preparing to introduce a crowd-sourced ‘reporting’ feature that allows users to input information about traffic, as well as issues of infrastructural damage and upkeep that will go directly to the dashboard of local governments for them to address.&nbsp; Not only do Nepal’s localised navigation services help Nepalis and navigation-based businesses, but they could also help enhance the tourism sector. Both Baato and Galli apps include Nepal’s major trekking routes.&nbsp; However, navigation experts do note that the availability of trekking routes, as helpful as they are, must be reconciled with the fact that trekkers, both foreign and domestic, rely primarily on the experience and knowledge of trekking guides and tourism professionals.&nbsp; Nama Budhathoki notes that Nepal-based navigation apps are an infrastructure themselves, with tremendous opportunities to enable and enhance the lives of individuals, start-ups, institutions as well as the government. Adds Budhathoki: “The future is location-based.”&nbsp;

Shristi Karki

Navigating Nepal with new digital maps

Who is accountable for teacher-student relationships?

Of the nearly 19 million eligible voters in next week’s election in Nepal, an estimated 5 million are abroad and cannot cast their ballots. Many others within Nepal must travel to their home districts, and might decide not to because of the cost.
Flights into Kathmandu these days are full of global Nepalis returning just to vote, but almost as many are leaving for overseas jobs. Most of those coming or going are in the 20-40 age group, and a majority want Nepal to see a change in leadership.
Bangladesh held an election this month in which citizens overseas could vote by mail.&nbsp;
“Bangladesh made maximum use of technology not just for campaigning but also for polling itself. We could have also managed this, so people within Nepal did not have to travel to their home districts to vote,” says Mohna Ansari, former head of Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission who was an election observer in Bangladesh.
A 3-day holiday has been declared so people can travel to their home constituencies to cast ballots. Even if there was not enough time to manage ballots for overseas Nepalis, it could have been done for Nepalis within Nepal.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel reckons that physical voting in countries with a large Nepali diaspora would have been a logistical nightmare, but in the PR system, using electronic voting machines or paper ballot could have been piloted in some places. It is not possible to manage the entire voting process until we introduce the internet voting system.
“First of all, there needs to be political will to bring the policy and be ready to undertake that level of investment and it is not a one-time cost,” Pokharel says. “A government formed by the GenZ could have atr least issed an ordinance ensuring this right, piloted out-of-country voting where possible, which could have built pressure for the future Parliament and the government. It would have given people hope. It is a lost opportunity.”
All major political parties called for voting rights for global Nepalis in their manifestos, but these very leaders blocked legislation allowing it despite a 2017 Supreme Court ruling out of fear that it would be anti-incumbent.&nbsp;
<h2>Why so late?</h2>
Bangladesh delivered election results in just one day, but the final results of Nepal's last local polls in 2022 including that of Kathmandu constituencies took nearly a month.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said this week that the results of the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) ballot counting would “likely” be published within 24 hours of the poll closing at 5PM on 5 March. But many are skeptical.
“I wonder if we lack the capacity or know-how to announce results as quickly as possible,” says Mohna Ansari.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Pokharel says manual ballot paper counting in Nepal is inherently slow because of the large numner of political parties and/or candidates on the ballot, the counting mechanism, the political behaviour of the candidates/parties and some managerial issues during counting.
“Our present policy is to count all the ballot papers at the returning officers' officies, located at the district headquarters. It requires collecting ballot boxes safetly first. This takes time, and there have been cases of ballot boxes being damaged or stolen during transport. In a few highly difficult, geographically remote polling centres, we use a helicopter or transport. But sometimes, accommodating the party and candidates' representatives remains challenging,” explains Pokharel. A solution could be counting ballots at the very booths where they are cast.
Another reason for the delay is simply the number of political parties, and the need for each ballot paper to be examined by booth representatives for consensus. In close races, the smallest difference can lead to tense situations, further delaying results, even though counting centres are protected by metal fencing so there is no disruption.
After this, then it is the turn of Proportional Representation (PR) ballots to be counted. Weeks pass by the time the results of candidates and parties are tallied and verified. But the most common delay is because election officers think ballot counting is a nine-to-five job.&nbsp;
“The efficiency of poll station officers is most important, and they are incentivised for this,” says Ansari, adding that counting can even start within an hour after voting closes.
In remote areas, local resources could be mobilised to make counting quicker, but there is a crisis of trust, adds Ansari.&nbsp;
That could be easily solved with electronic voting which the EC implemented in the 2008 polls but discontinued because political parties felt the machines could be hacked or manipulated.

Nepalis Select Who To Elect

On Saturday, Iran retaliated with missile strikes on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar, a region where there are an estimated 2 million Nepalis working to send money home. In addition, thousands of Nepalis were preparing to board flights to Kathmandu from West Asian cities this weekend to vote in the 5 March election. Many are said to be stranded at various aviation hubs. A Qatar Airways flight from Doha took off just before the air space was closed, while Air Arabia and Kuwait Airways have diverted or cancelled flights. Nepalis in the West Asian region said things were relatively calm where they were, although some heard loud explosions at about noon local time. In Dubai, some thought they were Ramadan fireworks.&nbsp; In Kuwait, nearly 2,000 Nepalis working in the US military base as security guards and cleaners were evacuated before the strikes. In Bahrain where the US Fifth Fleet naval base is located and which was hit by two Iranian missiles, workers contacted by Nepali Times said the situation was under control and the authorities had told everyone to stay indoors and not use highways. The conflict also coincided with the beginning of Nepal’s trekking and mountaineering season, and tourists were either on their way or planning to leave European and North American cities for Himalayan hikes. Most of them transit through Doha, Dubai or Kuwait and all three airports are closed. Turkish Airlines flights via Istanbul are still operating.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260228130212_ab5e132d56da1df6a3fb1b6919648f845a168ad2c51d79f7587fb85a6e913b97.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260228130212_ab5e132d56da1df6a3fb1b6919648f845a168ad2c51d79f7587fb85a6e913b97" data-rendition-name="original" width="1864" height="826" loading="lazy" alt="Qatar and UAE airspace closed"> <figcaption>Qatar and UAE airspace closed. Credit: Flightradar24</figcaption> </figure>  However, the main impact for the world could be a spike in the price of petroleum products if the strategic Strait of Hormuz is blocked. China relies on Iranian oil for their refineries, and Nepal could be affected indirectly if the economies of its neighbours are hit. Nepal imports all its diesel, petrol, LPG and aviation fuel from India which sources it mainly from the Gulf, and until recently from Russia. Petroleum makes up 25% of the value of all imports, and that is more than Nepal earns from all its exports. Saudi Arabia this year overtook the UAE as the main destination for Nepali workers, with the number now totalling 400,000. There are said to be as many in the UAE, and another 350,000 in Qatar. There are another 100,000 mostly women in Kuwait, and 50,000 each in Oman and Bahrain.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260228130220_d24ae633ff84f283835434becdb2f1351f84c415ce87ca34378bd4e2669661b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260228130220_d24ae633ff84f283835434becdb2f1351f84c415ce87ca34378bd4e2669661b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="West Asia Iran conflict"> <figcaption>Iran retaliated with missile strikes on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar on Saturday.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal receives nearly $11 billion a year in remittances from overseas Nepalis (not counting India) through official channels, although the total is said to be much more. &nbsp;This makes up more than a quarter of Nepal’s GDP equivalent — one of the highest proportions in the world. More than half of the overseas remittances to Nepal comes from its workers in the Gulf, and it is the mainstay of the country’s economy. Nepalis in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE alone send home more than $3 billion a year, much of that helping support their families back home. An average Nepali worker in the Gulf sends home nearly $2,500 a year, and this is spent mainly for household supplies, children’s education and healthcare. There are also an estimated 7,000 Nepali caregivers and healthcare workers in Israel, and most of them are women. The Nepal Embassy has asked Nepalis in Israel to take caution and move to bomb shelters.

West Asia war and Nepalis

&nbsp;The BBC documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idv4mMGHPLk&amp;t=173s">Shot Like Enemies: Inside Nepal’s GenZ Uprising</a> set off a frenzied debate in the public sphere, highlighting how sensitive international coverage of the country still is for Nepalis despite the national media doing its job. The investigative report focussed on the massacre outside Parliament on 8 September that led to the collapse of the government and paved the way for the election on Thursday.&nbsp; There was praise from supporters of the film and scathing criticism. Raw clips and leaked conversations showed how deliberately the protesters were shot in cold blood. Others saw a sinister conspiracy behind the release of what they regarded as a one-sided documentary just a week before the election. News in the foreign media of the election from Nepal was eclipsed this week by the war in West Asia. Nepali Times brings this selection of readings from the international press. For the complete articles go online or type in the links.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_be0e1078a3563f9433e73af614fc24db7fb0d42560c88d9522a8b17e944a3e3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260303110320_be0e1078a3563f9433e73af614fc24db7fb0d42560c88d9522a8b17e944a3e3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="759" height="412" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/3/2/balen-shah-rapper-mayor-nepals-next-prime-minister">full story</a> here.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_493b9bca6cd984aa0d846ee577a3ef5aadc11086f6387c6b5b3f6d1c21b087a6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260303110320_493b9bca6cd984aa0d846ee577a3ef5aadc11086f6387c6b5b3f6d1c21b087a6" data-rendition-name="original" width="636" height="678" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nepali-parties-promise-big-ahead-of-polls-however-concerns-remain/article70688498.ece">full story</a> here.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_b813313c898a1addf207ee663210ae8ebc0cd2f47ba8fb088530c445a733896b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260303110320_b813313c898a1addf207ee663210ae8ebc0cd2f47ba8fb088530c445a733896b" data-rendition-name="original" width="625" height="582" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqgl3j5nj4o">full story</a> here.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_b643581c73d3e4babef9e1f89414b33864c2807a5488cd1c0d2de6d34755a42c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260303110320_b643581c73d3e4babef9e1f89414b33864c2807a5488cd1c0d2de6d34755a42c" data-rendition-name="original" width="701" height="813" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/will-nepals-long-standing-nonalignment-survive-the-first-election-after-its-gen-z-uprising/">full story</a> here.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_934a42f754451d7354407413f3eaa0fd8fff798122f7e419fdaef82dfe1895ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20260303110320_934a42f754451d7354407413f3eaa0fd8fff798122f7e419fdaef82dfe1895ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="631" height="759" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-nepal-polls-political-parties-root-for-mega-infrastructure/">full story</a> here.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260303110320_b5152c5addd7c988a4eb2bbd1dfbec78ea0113677792bf986b622dacbd9d2463.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20260303110320_b5152c5addd7c988a4eb2bbd1dfbec78ea0113677792bf986b622dacbd9d2463" data-rendition-name="original" width="961" height="803" loading="lazy" alt="international coverage of Nepal elections"> </figure>  Read the <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1090389/nepals-election-is-referendum-on-its-future-and-democracy-in-south-asia">full story</a> here.

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Nepalis Select Who To Elect

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