While the issue of electing parliamentary party leader is heating up in the Nepali Congress that won 89 seats in the House of Representatives in the elections last month, there is an unusual silence in the other two major parties–the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre).

The work execution committee of the Nepali Congress on Sunday announced a three-member committee to conduct the election of parliamentary party leader. The election is to be held on Wednesday.

Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who has never been challenged either as party chair or parliamentary party leader, has no plan to hold an election for the post. But he has already started lobbying other parties to support his bid for prime minister.

“We will pick our parliamentary party leader soon,” said Shakti Basnet, the party’s deputy general secretary.

Among the parties, the Nepali Congress has a longstanding tradition of holding elections to make appointments in key party positions. But in the UML, such elections, observers say, are cosmetic and only those close to the leadership emerge victorious.

And in the CPN (Maoist Centre), they don’t normally have elections, barring a few exceptions. Office bearers are handpicked by the chairman. The former rebel party joined parliamentary politics in 2007, but it has never held an election to pick parliamentary party leaders.

In the UML, despite the party’s poor show in the last month’s elections compared to five years ago, Chairman KP Sharma Oli is the sole candidate for parliamentary party leader because he has cleared his way by removing all possible contenders in the party. The UML has already projected Oli as its prime ministerial candidate.

Ghanashyam Bhusal and Bhim Rawal were two possible challengers to Oli in the party. But Bhusal was booted out of the party, while Bhim Rawal was denied election ticket thus barred from entering parliament.

Rawal, in a recent interview with a news media, said he was not given an election ticket despite the fact that he could surely win the polls from his home district Achham just because he could challenge Oli as parliamentary party leader.

“Since the party has decided to project Oli as next prime minister, I don’t think there is any confusion now about UML’s parliamentary party leader,” Rawal, who is critical of the party’s leadership, told the Post.

Another politburo member and newly elected member of parliament Lilanath Shrestha said there won’t be any election for parliamentary party leader and that was not necessary either.

Oli rose to power after defeating Jhalanath Khanal in the election for parliamentary party leader in 2014. But with Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal forming a new party CPN (Unified Socialist) there is no other leader as senior to challenge Oli.

The CPN (Unified Socialist), which was formed by splitting the CPN-UML, elected Madhav Kumar Nepal as its parliamentary party leader on Monday. The Nepal-led party won 10 federal seats.

In the Nepali Congress, General Secretary Gagan Thapa has already announced to contest for parliamentary party leader, while another leader Shekhar Koirala has also hinted that he could also be in the race to challenge party president Sher Bahadur Deuba. According to the Congress statute, its parliamentary party leader becomes the candidate for prime minister.