Krishna Bahadur Mahara

Krishna Bahadur Mahara is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Nepali Communist Party. He was a prominent Maoist leader during the civil war. After the Maoists entered the peace process, he was elected to parliament/constituent-assembly multiple times, and also became a cabinet minister. Following his election to the house of representatives in the 2017 legislative election, he was elected House Speaker but resigned in October 2019 after allegations of attempted rape were made by a parliamentary staffer. He was acquitted in February 2020.

Career In the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election he was elected from the Dang-3 constituency, winning 20784 votes. He was subsequently appointed as Minister of Information and Communication in the cabinet headed by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Chairman Prachanda and sworn in on 22 August 2008.

Controversies In September 2019, an employee of the parliament secretariat alleged attempted rape by a drunk Mahara at her apartment on the night of 29 September. Mahara resigned as Speaker on 1 October at the behest of his party, and was subsequently arrested.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara was also arrested and brought to Kathmandu for investigation into his alleged involvement in a major gold smuggling case.