Nepal's Major Parties Unveil Manifestos Ahead of March 5 Election

PTI, Feb 20, 2026, Kathmandu: Nepal's two major parties, the CPN-UML and the RSP, unveiled on Thursday their respective high-sounding manifestos to woo voters ahead of the March 5 general elections.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN -UML), is led by deposed Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and the newest Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is led by Ravi Lamichhane.

Releasing the party's election manifesto in Kathmandu, CPN-UML Chairman Oli claimed that the party is determined to build rather than destroy and burn the country.

The CPN-UML has given priority to areas of good governance, development, employment generation and social justice, which, the largest communist party said, were initiated when it was in power but could not be completed mainly due to political instability.

In its election manifesto, the party has also mentioned providing employment opportunities to one million youths within a period of five years.

The manifesto included 11 immediate tasks, five fundamental tasks, and 25 pledges.

"The party will utilise the state institutions to lead the work of transforming the face of the country, based on the party's past experiences and practices," says the manifesto.

Disciplined labour, citizen-friendly housing, expansion of industrial areas, advanced farming, quality education, and digital infrastructure development are among the 25 bases of prosperity as envisioned by the party.

The CPN-UML said it is committed to developing an industrial ecosystem to promote competitive industrial capacity.

Meanwhile, RSP President Lamichhane and the party's prime ministerial candidate Balendra Shah unveiled the election manifesto with 100-point commitments during a public meeting in Surkhet district of Karnali province.

The party's commitment paper aims to initiate the process of constitution amendment by forging national consensus for establishing a political system based on a directly elected executive head, a fully proportionate parliament and non-partisan local bodies.

It envisions short-term, mid-term and long-term energy trade agreements with neighbouring countries by forging bilateral and regional collaborations with India and Bangladesh, pursuing energy diplomacy.

On the foreign policy front, the party aims to pursue balanced and dynamic diplomacy to transform changing geopolitics and the emergence of neighbouring powers into development opportunities for the country.

The party also aims to construct an East-West electric railway line for transporting passengers and goods and to connect the country's major cities including Kathmandu and those in southern Nepal with Indian and Chinese railway networks.

Government service delivery will be provided to the people online, the commitment paper says, adding that the party aims to build a neutral, professional and accountable public service system by disassociating bureaucracy from politics.

The party also aims to promote digital economy to attain high economic growth, increase productivity and create quality employment opportunities.

In its election manifesto released on Wednesday, the Himalayan nation's largest democratic party, Nepali Congress, gave the slogan of "sustainable infrastructure, strong economy, secure future, and developed Nepal."

The party said it prioritises economic growth, living standards of the people, residential and urban development, energy promotion and connectivity expansion.

Party president and the prime ministerial candidate Gagan Thapa released the manifesto.