The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has decided to not contest the election for speaker.
The parliamentary party meeting of NC held Tuesday morning has taken the decision to that regard.
The parliament secretariat has set a window of 11 am to two Tuesday afternoon to file nominations for the election.
CPN has already selected Agni Sapkota as the party's candidate for the position.
NC, that had not contested the election against former speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, had earlier hinted that it may field candidate this time citing that the ruling party has fielded a murder-accused in the election.
"The case of murder-accused Sapkota is sub judice in the Supreme Court. How can we accept a murder-accused in the honorable post?" a central committee member had confided with Setopati.
But the parliamentary party meeting decided to not field a candidate.
Sapkota has been accused of abduction and murder of chairman of the management committee of Sri Krishna Secondary School of Tapcha, Kavre Arjun Bahadur Lama during the Maoist insurgency.
Lama was murdered after abduction on April 29, 2005. The SC will hear the murder case and two other petitions against Sapkota on February 5.
The secretariat meeting of CPN held at the PM's official residence in Baluwatar Sunday afternoon took the decision to field Sapkota.
Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, whose allegiance is now with CPN having won the last general election on a CPN-UML ticket, has already resigned on Monday to allow the ruling party to keep the post of speaker as the Constitution prohibits appointment of speaker and deputy speaker from the same party.
