Nepal, March 6 -- Democracy tells us that voting is a right. But for many citizens, voting is expensive. Kathmandu is home to approximately 3.5 million people. Yet only around 700,000 are registered voters in the capital. This gap reveals that the majority of people living in Kathmandu are internal migrants. When elections arrive, they are expected to travel back to their home constituencies to cast their vote. But can everyone afford to do that?

Reports suggest that nearly 800,000 people left Kathmandu as elections approached. The bus parks were crowded, highways packed, and social media flooded with photos of citizens heading home to vote. Yet millions remained in the valley. Are they politically indifferent? Or is the answer more comp...