Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmakers will not cast their ballots in the presidential election slated for Thursday.

A work execution committee meeting of the party held on Wednesday decided not to cast votes for either candidate, Mohan Shrestha, the party’s spokesperson said.

“It has been decided to abstain from the election process,” said Shrestha.

The decision follows after leaders in the pro-monarchy party voiced that casting votes in the presidential election will be against the party’s political course of action.

Voting to elect a new President will be held at the parliament building from 10am to 3pm tomorrow.

The election of the President is held based on a weighted voting system.

In the election for President, a vote cast by a member of both upper and lower houses will be considered to have the weight of 79 votes, whereas the vote cast by a member of the provincial assembly will have the weight of 48 electoral votes.

A total of 884 members make up the electoral college, including 275 members of the House of Representatives, 59 of the National Assembly and 550 of the seven provincial assemblies. It means, there will be a total weightage of 52,786 votes in the electoral college, if no seat in the federal parliament and provincial assembly is vacant. A candidate must secure a majority of the total votes to secure the top post.

A total of 881 lawmakers will cast their vote in the upcoming presidential election if no one abstains.

Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN-UML vice-chair Subas Nembang are in the presidential race.