The date for the election of Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party (PP) leader is likely to be announced on Saturday.

A meeting of the party’s election committee will fix the date for the PP leader election.

The post of PP leader is lying vacant since the death of former NC president Sushil Koirala on February 9.

The PP leader election will most likely be held in the first week of April, according Surendra Pandey a member of the election committee.

The NC last week had formed a three-member committee comprising Pandey, Ramesh Rijal and Guru Ghimire for the election of PP leader.

Party President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, who lost to Deuba in the party’s presidential election, are set to contest for the PP leadership.

After the death of Sushil Koirala, there are 205 lawmakers who are eligible to vote in the PP leader election.

Deuba had lost to Koirala in PP election in 2014 by 16 votes with the former managing to garner just 89 votes against 105.

However, with the change in the party dynamics following the new leadership in the party, over a dozen of lawmakers have left the so-called establishment side to join the Deuba camp.