April 11: The 57th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has started from today (Tuesday).
The AGM will elect a new leadership of the federation. Chandra Dhakal, who is currently the senior vice president of the federation, will automatically become the president after the annual general meeting. There is a provision in the statute of the federation that the person who is the senior vice-president in the previous term will automatically become the president in the next term.
The elections for the post of senior vice president and other positions will be held on Wednesday during the AGM. According to the federation, the voting will be held at the Nepal Academy Hall from 8 am on Wednesday. Altogether 118 people have registered their candidacy for 64 positions, including senior vice president, vice president and executive member for the election.
A total of three candidates will be vying for one post of senior vice president, eight candidates will compete for the posts of three vice presidents and 104 candidates are in the fray for 58 positions of FNCCI members.
The election of the senior vice-president of the federation is being watched with much interest due to the provision that the senior vice president will automatically become the president in the next term.
This is the first time that three candidates are contesting for the post of senior vice-president. The three candidates include current vice presidents Ram Chandra Sanghai and Anjan Shrestha and the former Vice President Umesh Lal Shrestha.
According to the statute of the FNCCI, a candidate must receive 51 percent of the total votes to be elected as the senior vice president. If no candidate gets 51 percent of the votes in the first round of voting, a second round of voting will be held. According to the federation, only the two candidates who get the most votes will compete in the second round.
As all the three candidates for the position of senior vice president have formed their own panels, there will be competition between all the three panels in the upcoming elections.
Ram Chandra Sanghai, who is also the current vice president, has nominated Suraj Krishna Vaidya as the district vice president, Sakunta Lal Hirachan as the objective vice president and Jyotsana Shrestha as the associate vice president from his group.
Similarly, former vice-president Umesh Lal Shrestha has nominated Dinesh Shrestha, who is still in the same position, as the district vice-president and Hemraj Dhakal as the objective vice-president from his group.
The incumbent vice president Anjan Shrestha has nominated Arun Sumargi as the district vice president and Manish Lal Pradhan as the objective vice president from his group. Bharatraj Acharya is the common candidate for associate vice president from the groups of Umesh Lal Shrestha and Anjan Shrestha.