Himal Press 
POKHARA: Shobha Gautam has become the first woman to lead the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in its 72-year history.
In the voting for the new leadership of the PCCI held on Sunday, Gautam defeated three other candidates to helm Pokhara’s oldest private-sector umbrella organization.
Of the chamber’s 2,731 eligible voters, 2,274 cast their ballots for president and other office-bearers, while 2,108 voted to elect executive members.
Gautam defeated her closest rival, Arjun Pokharel, by a narrow margin in the final results announced on Monday evening. Uttam Man Buddhacharya came third, while Balram Acharya finished fourth.
This was Pokharel’s third defeat in the presidential election.
Gautam received 751 votes, while Pokharel got 637. Buddhacharya and Acharya received 601 and 253, respectively.
Gautam and Acharya had contested the election with their respective panels.
Dinesh Chandra Bastola was elected senior vice president; while Saugat Thapa and Manoj Kumar Shrestha were elected vice president (industry) and vice president (commerce), respectively. Similarly, Sudip Pradhananga was elected general secretary, Devendra Praju treasurer, and Pradeep Rajbhandari deputy general secretary.
The 10 elected executive members under the open category include Durga Baral, Amrit Pokhrel, Nirmala Chapagain, Govinda Bahadur KC, Rameshwar Adhikari, Manohari Poudel, Bhanu Bhakta Adhikari, Dilip Kumar Shrestha, Ram Prasad Kandel and Kamal Bahadur Sunar.
Similarly, Keshav Dhakal, Mukti Prasad Paneru, Laxmi Prasad Adhikari and Lal Prasad Dhakal were elected unopposed as executive members (commodity), while Pitambar Adhikari was elected unopposed as executive member (industry), said Damu Adhikari, coordinator of the election committee.
The PCCI was established in 1954.
