Kathmandu, April 2

Candidates vying for the post of senior vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) for the upcoming annual general meeting and election slated for April 10 and 11, have intensified their campaign to attract supporters.

As the amended FNCCI statute has a provision whereby the senior vice-president automatically becomes the president in the next election, aspirants for the post of senior vice-president are in a race to win the support of voters of the largest private sector umbrella body. Two candidates namely, Kishore Pradhan and Shekhar Golchha, are contesting for this post. Pradhan today announced his candidacy in Kathmandu. He has support of former presidents of FNCCI namely, Kush Kumar Joshi, Binod Bahadur Shrestha and Suraj Vaidya, who were also present in the candidacy announcement ceremony organised here today.

Golchha had announced his candidacy from Butwal some two weeks back. He is backed by former presidents Chandi Raj Dhakal, Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, incumbent President Pashupati Murarka and president-elect Bhawani Rana.

Both candidates have declared their candidacy along with the panel. The Pradhan panel comprises of Pramod Shrestha as candidate for vice president of District Municipal Chambers and Shankar Pandey as vice president for Commodities.

Likewise, Golchha led panel comprises of Dinesh Shrestha as candidate for vice president of District and Municipal Chambers, and Umesh Lal Shrestha and Chandra Dhakal as vice presidents for Commodities and Associates, respectively.

The Pradhan-led panel has yet to announce the name of the candidate for vice president of Associates. The deadline to register candidacy at the election commission is till Monday.

There are 104 votes from the District and Municipal Chambers, 99 from Commodities and 856 from Associates (including bi-national chambers).