The second largest party in the Legislature-Parliament, CPN-UML, has decided not to field any candidate for the PM election.

Party Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai, on twitter, said that UML would stay in the opposition bench and vote against CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Dahal in election.

Earlier, rumors were doing rounds that UML would field either vice chairman Bamdev Gautam or former Speaker Subash Chandra Nembang as PM candidate.

With the CPN-UML deciding not to contest in PM’s race, Dahal looks all set to win the election on Wednesday to become the next prime minister as the Sanghiya Gathabandan has also decided to support Dahal's candidacy. 

In the 595-member Parliament, Dahal will require 298 votes to win the election. The Maoist Centre, the third largest party with 82 seats in Parliament, has the backing of the Nepali Congress, the largest party with 207 seats, and Sanghiya Gathabanda .

The Maoist-NC alliance is also likely to get support from other fringe forces to elect Dahal the new PM. A rough calculation shows there are around 366 votes in favour of Dahal.