Kathmandu: In an election that mauled former PMs, dynastic heirs and party strongmen, the Balendra 'Balen' Shah wave did not spare Nepal’s richest face either. Binod Chaudhary, the country’s sole Forbes-listed billionaire, the face of the popular Wai Wai noodles empire and sitting Nepali Congress MP from Nawalparasi West-1 in Lumbini province, was trounced by Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Bikram Khanal, who polled 45,241 votes to Chaudhary’s 9,502.
The scale of the defeat made the result stand out even in an election crowded with symbolic losses. Chaudhary was not a first-time entrant testing whether business success could convert into votes. He had earlier entered parliament through the proportional representation system and then won Nawalparasi West-1 in 2022 as a direct Nepali Congress candidate.
