Anjan Shrestha has been elected unopposed senior vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

Umesh Lal Shrestha, Anjan Shrestha and Ram Chandra Sanghai were competing for the second most powerful post in the private sector umbrella body. The senior vice-president automatically becomes president at the end of their three-year term, making the post valuable.

The election for the senior vice president was pushed to the second round after no candidates— Umesh Lal, Anjan and Sanghai—managed to receive over 50 percent of votes in the first round.

In the first round of voting, Anjan got 37.99 percent, Umesh Lal 31.71 percent and Sanghai garnered 30.46 percent of the votes.

The second round was narrowed down to Umesh Lal and Anjan.

Anjan was elected to the post after Umesh Lal agreed to support his competitor while preparations were underway for a second round of voting.

Shrestha is an executive director at Laxmi Group.

Laxmi Group is into manufacturing and trading. The manufacturing segment includes the production of confectionery like Sujal gum, Chocofun among others, Sujal plastic and dairies such as Safal processed milk, and Lovebirds ice cream.

The group manufactures Siddhi Laxmi Steels and is involved in a trading business that includes automotive and electronics.

The group is the authorised dealer for Hyundai four-wheelers in Nepal and also trades electronic brands like OTTO and Coolpad.

The final results for 63 positions have been announced already. As per the results, Hem Raj Dhakal has been elected vice-president (commodity), Sur Krishna Vaidya vice-president (industry) and Jyotsana Shrestha vice-president (associate).

The outgoing president of FNCCI Sekhar Golchha handed over the presidency to Chandra Prasad Dhakal amid a ceremony on Thursday.

Other newly elected officials and executive committee members also took the oath of office and secrecy on Thursday.