Although all communists, alongside the rightists RPP and RPP Nepal, jointly fought the elections and with indigenous and Madhesh candidates also in the fray, senior advocate Sher Bahadur K.C managed to win the post of president of Nepal Bar Association from the democratic front.

Defeating candidates supported by the CPN-UML, UCPN-Maoist and other smaller communist factions in the government and two rightist parties, RPP-Nepal and RPP, democratic panel led by senior advocate K.C. caused a major setback for communists, who reportedly have a strong presence in NBA.

In the history of Nepal Bar Association, this is the first time the democratic front made a sweeping victory in the elections, winning almost all positions. Strong and frank, senior advocate K.C. did everything to woo the voters, including those from the left.

K.C., who is originally from the mid-western region, completed his LLM from former Soviet Union. He is a die-hard sympathizer of Nepali Congress. The newly elected NBA president, senior advocate K.C., was defeated in the last elections with a thin margin by the CPN-UML candidate.

“After the elections, all the lawyers have a single mission to protect the independence of judiciary. My efforts will be to unite all the lawyers to strengthen the judiciary and end its politicization,” said K.C.

The recent recommendation of eight judges by Judicial Council at the behest of CPN-UML led government sparked a new round of controversy. Not only democrats, even lawyers soft on communist alliance, cast their votes in favor of democratic panel led by senior advocate KC.

For newly elected president of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba, the victory in NBA elections is anotherfeather in his cap. “NBA will fight tooth and nail against any move to weaken the independence of judiciary. All of us know that an independent of judiciary is the backbone of democracy.”