Nepali Congress (NC) will field Laxmi Rai as the party's presidential candidate.
The central committee took the decision to that regard at the party's central office in Sanepa Wednesday morning, according to an NC central member.
Rai is daughter of NC leader Dewan Singh Rai. Dewan Singh Rai was elected to the parliament in the first parliamentary election of Nepal held in 1959. He was assistant minister in the subsequent BP Koirala government. He was murdered during the Panchayat regime.
Laxmi Rai hails from Bhojpur like the left alliance candidate for the position Bidhya Devi Bhandari. A standing committee meeting of CPN-UML held Tuesday night decided to give President Bhandari a second term.
An NC leader told Setopati that the party had sent a message to UML and CPN Maoist Center that it will support any candidate other than Bhandari. "We respect President Bhandari and her political contribution. But we deem that the role she played right from the time of holding the ordinance for National Assembly did not maintain the dignity of the President's Office," the leader added.
HoR and National Assembly members vote for the post of president and vice president. The candidates do not need to be lawmakers but only lawmakers, even from provincial assembly, can propose and support candidacy.
