Kathmandu, January 12
The general assembly of the Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association has been
postponed without electing the leadership. Although the election process has started to elect the leadership by consensus among the business associations close to various political parties, the election committee has been dissolved and the general assembly has been postponed till further notice.
As per the previous agreement, the Nepal Democratic Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs
Association affiliated to the Nepali Congress was to have a chairman, secretary, treasurer and five members. Similarly, the UML-affiliated Progressive Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Forum agreed to have a first vice-chairman, three members and an advisor, and the Unified Socialist-affiliated Unified Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association to have a general secretary, three members and an advisor.
The Nepal Republican Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Forum, which is close to the Maoists, had two vice-presidents, three members, one advisor, and the association, which is close to the Socialist Forum, had three vice-presidents, one member and one advisor.
However, after the election process began, Ram Prasad Bhantana, the outgoing chairman of a forum close to the Maoists, ran for president. Due to this, Bhuvan Singh Gurung of the
Congress-affiliated Association, who had registered his candidature for the post, had to
compete with Bhantana. Keshav Neupane and Indira Gurung were nominated by Pragyan
Neupane and Narendra Prasad Dhakal respectively. Four other businessmen close to the Nepali Congress had also registered their candidacies for the post.
All those who rebelled against the Congress withdrew their candidacies in an attempt to reach a consensus. However, the election committee was dissolved after Bhantana, the incumbent chairman of a forum close to the Maoists, refused to withdraw his candidacy for the post.
The election has been postponed as the candidature was not returned in the allotted time from 2 pm on Tuesday to 12 noon on Wednesday. According to an association source, the election process had to be postponed as the person who signed the agreement had given his candidature for the post.
According to Sujit Kumar Shrestha, general secretary of the Foreign Employment Businessmen’s Association, an attempt has been made to reach a consensus due to the difficult situation of Kovid. ”We have postponed the general assembly until further notice as it is not possible to hold the election in such an uncomfortable situation due to the epidemic,” he said.
By Karuna Thapa
