Nepalese billionaire Binod Chaudhary elected vice president of Nepali Congress party

Nepalese billionaire Binod Chaudhary, chairman of CG Corp Global and the businessman behind Wai Wai instant noodles, has been elected a vice president of the Nepali Congress, one of Nepal's main political parties, seven months after he lost his seat in parliament.

Chaudhary won the vice presidency reserved for the party's inclusive category with 1,745 votes at the Nepali Congress' 15th general convention in Kathmandu, according to results reported on Oct. 12 by The Kathmandu Post and OnlineKhabar. He edged out Jeevan Pariyar, who received 1,658 votes, by a margin of 87. Farmullah Mansoor took 1,144 votes, Sita Gurung 1,112 and Ranjit Karna 562.

Chaudhary, 70, is Nepal's only billionaire. Forbes puts his fortune at $2.1 billion, ranking him 1,993rd in the world on its real-time tracker on Oct. 13.

A seat at the top table

The inclusive seat is one of several leadership posts the party sets aside to widen representation. Chaudhary rose through the same route before. At the party's 14th general convention, he was elected to the central committee under the quota for Madhesis, the communities of Nepal's southern plains, with 2,206 votes, OnlineKhabar reported.

In the open vice presidential race, Chandra Kant Bhandari led with 3,735 votes and Madhu Acharya took the second seat with 2,342. Pushpa Bhusal was elected vice president from the women's category, and Bishwa Prakash Sharma was elected senior vice president unopposed. Under the party's amended statute, the Nepali Congress now has five vice presidents, including the senior vice president.

The convention, which opened on Oct. 4 at Khula Manch in Kathmandu, returned Gagan Thapa as party president. Thapa, 50, won 6,584 votes against 375 for Shyam Krishna Khadgi, according to reports of the result. Pradeep Paudel and Udaya Shumsher Rana were elected general secretaries, while Dila Sangroula became the first woman elected general secretary in the party's history, The Kathmandu Post reported.

The gathering took place while the party remains split. Supporters of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who led the party before Thapa, argue that the central committee elected at the 14th convention is still legitimate and that Deuba remains president. Deuba's camp has announced a rival convention in Kathmandu from Dec. 7 to 9.

From parliament to party office

The vice presidency gives Chaudhary a senior role in the party just months after a heavy defeat at the polls. He won the West Nawalparasi-1 constituency for the Nepali Congress in 2022, but lost it in the March 2026 parliamentary election to Bikram Khanal of the Rastriya Swatantra Party. Khanal received 45,241 votes to Chaudhary's 9,502, according to Election Commission figures reported by the Indo-Asian News Service.

Chaudhary first entered national politics in 2008, when he joined Nepal's first Constituent Assembly through the proportional representation list of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN-UML. He joined the Nepali Congress in 2017. He was initially aligned with Deuba's faction but moved to Thapa's camp after the youth-led protests of September 2025 that toppled the government of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, OnlineKhabar reported. He took part in the special convention that first elected Thapa as party president in January.

The noodle fortune

Chaudhary's wealth rests on CG Corp Global, the conglomerate that grew out of a family trading business in Kathmandu. His father, Lunkaran Das Chaudhary, opened Arun Emporium in Kathmandu in 1968, described as Nepal's first department store.

The group's best-known product is Wai Wai, an instant noodle brand the group launched in Nepal in 1985 with technical help from a Thai producer. CG Corp Global says Wai Wai holds 2.6% of the global instant noodle market. The noodles are made in factories in Nepal, India, Serbia and Bangladesh, and the company is building a new plant in Egypt, according to IANS, a move that would give the brand a manufacturing base in Africa.

Beyond noodles, Chaudhary holds a controlling stake in Nabil Bank, Nepal's largest private-sector commercial bank, according to Forbes. CG's hotel arm has 143 owned and managed properties, including luxury hotels run in partnership with India's Taj chain. OnlineKhabar reported that the group operates in 27 countries across five continents through 160 companies and 123 brands.

Chaudhary has also led Nepal's two main business lobbies, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries.