Business fraternity elects new leadership

KATHMANDU, APR 13 - The country’s business fraternity on Saturday cast their votes to elect a new leadership of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FNCCI ).

FNCCI voters from across the country thronged the Capital to cast their votes in the election which held every three years.

The election process started an hour late at 10:00 am following a minor dispute between presidential contenders Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Pradeep Jung Pandey. FNCCI

President Suraj Vaidya had to step in to resolve the dispute. Rajkarnikar and Pandey were the first ones to caste the votes. Until late evening, the counting process was under way, with results for vice-presidents from commodities association and district/municipal chambers and associates declared.

Shekhar Golchha was elected vice-president from the associates category securing 310 votes.

His rival BK Shrestha garnered 236 votes. Dinesh Shrestha was elected vice-president with 59 votes from commodities associations, whereas his rival Uday Raj Pandey secured 28 votes.

From district and municipal chambers, Kishore Pradhan (93 votes) was elected vice-president, defeating DB Basnet (89 votes). Both Shrestha and Pradhan are from the Pandey panel, while Golchha represents Rajkarnikar’s panel.

From the commodities association, Anup Bahadur Malla, Ashok Sharma, Umesh Lal Shrestha, Kamala Shrestha, Raj Kumar Bhattarai, Rajan Sharma, Shakunta Lal Hirachan, Shankar Prasad Pandey, Saurav Jyoti, Sanjay Giri, Sanjib Rajbhandari and Sandip Kumar Agrawal were elected members.

According to Chief Election Officer Shiva Rijal, 100 percent votes were cast from districts and municipal chambers, while 88 out of 99 voters cast their votes from commodity associations and 574 out of 577 votes were cast from associate members. “The election was held without any hiccup,” said Rijal.

Eight members were elected unopposed for a three-year term. According to the election commission, several candidates from different zones and bilateral chambers of commerce have been elected unanimously.

According to Rijal, Ram Kapur Shah from Janakpur, Dharma Nath Prasad from Jaiswal from Narayani, Deepak Lamsal from Gandagi, Nirmad Kumar Shrestha from Dhaulagiri, Gopal Hamal from Seti, Mangal Singh Thagunna from Mahakali and Bhawani Rana from Bheri were elected unopposed.

Among them, Rana is vying for senior vice-president from Pandey panel. The newly-elected 61 member executive committee will cast vote for electing the senior vice president.