Home Ministry okays criteria for recruiting Election Police

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 7: The government has approved the criteria for the recruitment and deployment of election police (temporary police personnel) for the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5, 2026. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) approved the criteria on Monday night and forwarded them to both police forces (Nepal Police Headquarters and Armed Police Force Nepal), according to Joint Secretary and Spokesperson for the Ministry, Ananda Kafle.

According to Joint Secretary Kafle, the Nepal Police will recruit 133,980 personnel, while the Armed Police Force (APF) will recruit 15,110, taking the total number of election police to 149,090.

Recruitment will be carried out in a single phase. An Election Police Selection Committee will be formed in each district, led by the Chief District Officer, with the Assistant Chief District Officer serving as member secretary and the district heads of both police forces as members.

Aspiring candidates will be able to submit applications through the district offices of either police force. After the selection process is completed, the Nepal Police and the APF will 

 deploy personnel according to their respective quotas. Training, however, will be conducted separately by each force.

The approved criteria state that selected election police personnel will receive 10 days of training and will be deployed for one month during the election period.

Personnel recruited by the Nepal Police will be deployed under the Nepal Police, while those recruited by the APF will serve under the APF.

They will be entitled to facilities equivalent to those of police constables, including insurance, uniforms and ration allowances. Former security personnel and individuals who served as temporary (election) police in previous elections will be given special priority. Most of the criteria remain similar to those applied in previous elections.

In the 2022 A.D. elections, 115,000 temporary police personnel had been sought. However, the number has been increased this time as the Election Commission has expanded the number of polling stations.

For the upcoming election, a total of 10,967 polling stations will be set up nationwide, an increase of 168 compared to the previous election.

Of these, 3,500 polling centres have been classified as highly sensitive from a security perspective. With the rise in the number of polling stations and increased security sensitivity, an additional 35,000 election police personnel are being recruited.

This will also mark the first time that the Armed Police Force recruits election police. In strike teams, which previously comprised 18 personnel, six election police officers will be added.

Similarly, mobile patrol teams, which earlier included seven APF personnel, will now comprise 12 members, seven APF personnel and five election police officers.