Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa from the opposition camp will be contesting for the parliamentary party leader against President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

A meeting of leaders from Shekhar Koirala-Thapa camp held on Tuesday morning decided to field Thapa as their common candidate. As per the agreement, Koirala will be the proposer for the nomination while Bishwa Prakash Sharma will second the proposal.

The election for the Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader is slated for Wednesday. The party’s election committee has asked aspirants to register their candidacies by Tuesday afternoon. The party’s 89 newly-elected lawmakers are eligible to vote in the election for parliamentary party leader. The candidates will need at least 45 votes to secure the post.

While Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is also party president, is the only candidate for the post from the party’s establishment side, the rival faction, earlier, had failed to agree on its common candidate as both Koirala and Thapa had held firm in their claims.

The Congress is set to pick their parliamentary leader before the lawmakers-elect are sworn in as the President has already called House members to show a majority to claim the post of prime minister by December 25.

The party’s statute says that any leader aspiring to become prime minister should first get elected as parliamentary party leader. Nepali Congress parliamentary party statute states that if more than one candidate aspires to become the parliamentary party leader, it will be decided through an election process.

Negotiations among coalition partners for a new prime minister will take a concrete shape only after Congress elects its parliamentary party leader. Therefore, the election of Congress parliamentary leader is being closely followed.