Nepal’s only billionaire suffers defeat in parliamentary elections

Kathmandu, March 8 : Nepal’s only billionaire, Binod Chaudhary, a candidate from the Nepali Congress, suffered a humiliating defeat in the country's parliamentary elections at the hands of Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Bikram Khanal in the Nawalparasi West-1 constituency.

Khanal secured 45,241 votes to win the election, defeating Chaudhary, who received 9,502 votes, according to the Election Commission of Nepal.

Chaudhary joins a long list of candidates from traditional political parties -- the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or CPN (UML), and the Nepal Communist Party -- who have suffered defeats in this year’s elections as the RSP sweeps the polls across the country.

Several RSP candidates with business backgrounds are winning elections, while candidates from traditional political parties are suffering defeats.

Chaudhary’s loss came at a time when his party’s own president, Gagan Thapa, and General Secretary Pradeep Poudel, along with other heavyweight candidates, also suffered bitter defeats as the RSP wave swept the country.

The Nepali Congress has so far won 15 seats and is leading in two seats out of 165 constituencies, while the RSP has already secured victory in 103 seats and is leading in 21 seats, according to the election body.

Chaudhary, the only billionaire from Nepal listed by Forbes magazine for over a decade, was elected from the same constituency in the 2022 elections as a Nepali Congress lawmaker. He was also elected to the House of Representatives, the Lower House of Parliament, through the proportional representation system in the 2017 elections.

According to Forbes, Chaudhary, who controls CG Corp Global, is Nepal’s sole billionaire with a net worth of $2.1 billion as of March 2026.

His biggest assets include a controlling stake in Nepal’s Nabil Bank and CG Foods, the maker of the popular Wai Wai noodles. Wai Wai has overseas factories in India, Serbia and Bangladesh, with a new one being set up in Egypt.

CG’s hotel assets consist of 143 owned and managed properties, including a string of luxury hotels operated in partnership with India’s Taj hotel chain, Forbes reported.