KATHMAND: As the election day nears, aspirants for the post of the president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) — the largest umbrella body of the private sector in the country — are set to announce their candidacy. However, an extensive exercise is also going on to select the president unanimously.

Reportedly there are three candidates who are vying to lead the largest private sector umbrella body in the country

The candidacy for the post of the president must be filed at the FNCCI’s election committee by June 27, which is why all things will be finalised within the next three to four days.

One of the past presidents of FNCCI, on condition of anonymity, said that the chances of selecting a candidate unanimously are slim. “The idea of ‘selecting’ a president sounds good but is impractical,” he said.

According to FNCCI sources, there are three candidates vying for the post of president. There are two candidates from the executive committee and one from outside the executive committee who are vying for the post. Officiating President Pashupati Murarka; Executive Member and President of Agro Enterprise Centre (AEC) of FNCCI, Bhawani Rana, and former senior vice president of FNCCI, Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar are the candidates willing to lead the FNCCI for the remaining tenure of the current executive committee, which will expire in April 2017.

Rajkarnikar was defeated by past president Pradeep Jung Pandey last year. Interestingly, Rajkarnikar and Murarka were from the same panel in the election last time.

As per FNCCI sources, some past presidents who are close to past president Pradeep Jung Pandey are involved in forging a consensus to select Bhawani Rana. Rana was a candidate for the post of senior vice president from the Pandey panel in the last election and was defeated by Murarka. Rana, so far, had served as the vice president (of district and municipal chambers) in FNCCI. In the history of FNCCI, no woman candidate has even filed the candidacy for the post of president.

According to Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, past president and chair of the Disciplinary Committee of FNCCI, past presidents are trying to forge consensus to select the president unanimously. “The name of the candidate is yet to be finalised, but all of us past presidents are of the view that we should not go for election and present a united front,” he said.

The election for the post of president of FNCCI will be held on July 3. The post has remained vacant since its president Pradeep Jung Pandey was sentenced to jail in a three-decade old corruption charge on March 18, this year.