Industralist Pradeep Jung Pandey has been elected the 17th president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) defeating his rival Bhaskar Raj RajKarnikar today morning.
Pandey was elected with a margin of 177 votes as he received 1,055, where as Rajkarnikar bagged 878 votes.
According to the election committee, Pandey received 54.6 per cent of total votes whereas Raj Rajkarnikar got 45.5 per cent votes.
The 64-year old industrialist Pandey – chairman of a dozen industries including Lomas Pharmaceuticals, Lomus Herbineria, Lomas Investment, Citizens Bank International, Cosmos Cement, Eastern Cosmos Cement, and Shikhar Insurance is also director and promoter director of Mountain Energy – will lead the private sector for next three years as according to the FNCCI statute.
Pandey – who has done masters in economics and management – after being elected early morning today, vowed to maintain unity among the private sector.
The FNCCI will unitedly work for strengthening the private sector, attracting more investment, creating employment opportunities, and leading the country’s economic growth, he added.
Dinesh Shrestha (commodity), Kishor Pradhan (district) and Shekhar Golchha (associate) were elected three vice presidents, whereas Pashupati Murarka and Bhawani Rana will fight for senior vice president in the first executive committee meeting of the FNCCI.
The 63-member executive committee of FNCCI comprises of three vice presidents, 14 members from districts, 14 from zones, 12 from commodities associations, 16 from associate members and one from bilateral chambers. Outgoing president is also in the executive committee as immediate past president.
Om Bahadur Rajbhandari, Chandra Dhakal, Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, Pashupati Murarka, Manish Kumar Agrawal, Anil Kumar Kediya, Ashok Kumar Todi, Gopal Khanal, Jyotsna Shrestha, Prakash Giri, Ranjeet Raj Acharya, Ram Krishna Prasai, Ram Chandra Sanghai, Bijay Singh Vaidya and Shahil Agrawal have been elected executive members from associate, whereas Prakash Prasai (Mechi), Rohit Prasad Prasai (Koshi), Ashok Kumar Agrawal (Sagarmatha), Ram Kapoor Shah (Janakpur), Manish Lal Pradhan (Bagmati), Dharmanath Prasad Jaiswal (Narayani), Deepak Lamsal (Gandaki), Krishna Prasad Shrestha (Lumbini), Nirman Kumar Shrestha (Dhaulagiri), Harihar Budhathoki (Rapti), Bhawani Rana (Bheri), Narbir Rawat (Karnali), Gopal Hamal (Seti), Mangal Singh Thagunna (Mahakali) have been elected executive members form zonal chambers.
Likewise, Pramod Shrestha (Myagdi), Guna Nidhi Tiwari (Nawalparasi), Keshab Raj Pandey from (Mechi Municipality), Dil Sundar Shrestha (Dhulikhel Municipality), Shankar Shrestha (Rupandehi), Narendra Kumar Khadka from (Ilam), Rajendra Shrestha (Sindhupalchowk), Yubak Rajbhandari (Bhaktapur), Mahendra Kumar Shrestha (Siddharthanagar Municipality), Omprakash Banshal (Krishnanagar Municipality), Nirak KC (Surkhet), Chop Narayan Shrestha (Waling Municipality), Bijay Kumar Sarawagi of Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan City) and Sunil Kumar Sharma (Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City) have been elected as executive members from district and municipal chambers.
And Anup Bahadur Malla, Ashok Sharma, Umesh Lal Shrestha, Kamala Shrestha, Raj Kumar Bhattarai, Rajan Sharma, Sakunta Lal Hirachan, Shankar Pandey, Saurav Jyoti, Sanjay Giri, Sandeep Rajbhandari and Sandip Kumar Agrawal were elected as executive members from commodity associations.
The way ahead is not smooth as the FNCCI was clearly divided into two panels, with Pandey leading one and Rajkarnikar the other, during the election.