Nepal, March 3 -- When the question "Are you going to vote?" floats easily across a table, it carries a quiet conflict. It masks the unequal terrain beneath a language of choice, even though, in reality, it is deeply structured by patriarchy, caste hierarchies, economic exclusion and political gatekeeping.

In Nepal's last national elections alone, barely about 61 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, a number that sounds respectable until you see who that leaves behind. Millions simply could not vote just because of rigid constituency-based laws and migration patterns that do not align with the map.

Around 7 million Nepalis living and working abroad, nearly one-fourth of the population, are effectively shut out, not by law, but...