Rajkarnikar, Pandey file nominations as FNCCI election countdown begins

KATHMANDU, APR 05 -

The countdown has begun. With two candidates—Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Pradeep Jung Pandey—filing their nominations for president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FNCCI ) on Friday, the race to elect a new leadership of the private sector body has entered the final stage.

Candidates for senior vice-president, Pashupati Murarka and Bhawani Rana, have also filed their nominations. As per the FNCCI statute, majority votes of the new executive committee will select senior vice president. Murarka is representing the Rajkarnikar panel, while Rana is contesting from the Pandey panel. Both Murarka and Rana are currently vice presidents of the FNCCI .

In associates group, Golchha Organis-ation Executive Director Shekhar Golchha and Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) President BK Shrestha are contesting for vice-president. Golchha represents the Rajkarnikar panel, while Shrestha is from the Pandey panel.

DB Basnet (Rajkarnikar panel) and Kishore Pradhan (Pandey panel) are vying for vice-president from district and municipal chambers. As for commodities association, there is a contest between Uday Raj Pandey (Rajkarnikar panel) and Dinesh Shrestha (Pandey panel) for vice president. All of them filed their nominations on Friday.

Given its prestige and influence, the office of the FNCCI president is always attractive. So the stakes are high when it comes to the election of FNCCI president. Both the presidential candidates have talked about strengthening the private sector as their agenda.

Talking to the Post after filling his nomination, Rajkarnikar said his team will work for strengthening the private sector. “At a time when a new constitution is being drafted, there is a need for a crucial role to motivate and strength the private sector,” he said, adding his team has a good balance of candidates and a young team to formulate a vision.

Pandey said his team will stick to the agenda of “Prosperity, Unity: the Need of Private Sector”. “For the strengthening and betterment of the private sector, unity is a must. Only with unity, we can achieve prosperity,” he said.

Held every three years, FNCCI elections have always been of high stake. Major business houses, associations and past presidents are divided into two panels. Former presidents Mahesh Lal Pradhan, Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, Binod Bahadur Shrestha, Kush Kumar Joshi and Chandi Raj Dhakal are behind Pandey, while current President Suraj Vaidya and former President Ananda Raj Mulmi are supporting Rajkarnikar.

With the election date nearing, voters from the district and zonal chambers have started pour into Kathmandu. The 49-year-old FNCCI has a network of 96 district and municipal chambers, 91 commodity associations and 635 associate members.

As per the FNCCI constitution, associates have a 30 percent weightage in their votes, commodities associations have 20 percent and district chambers have 50 percent. As district and zonal chambers are considered vote banks, Rajkarnikar and Pandey have travelled extensively across the country to garner support.

According to the FNCCI election committee, a total of 132 candidates filed their nominations for the 61-member FNCCI executive committee on Friday. Six persons registered their candidacies for vice president, 34 from the districts, 27 from associate bodies, 22 from the commodities associations.

The FNCCI executive committee consists of 14 members representing 14 zones. According to the FNCCI statute, the FNCCI central committee will have 16 representations from associate, 12 from commodities groups, 14 from districts and three vice-presidents and a chairman.

Meanwhile, the election committee has fixed April 11 at 1:00 pm as the date for nomination withdrawal. FNCCI will elect its new leadership in its 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for April 11-12.

Source: The Kathmandu Post