Advocate Sher Bahadur KC of the democratic panel took lead as the vote count for the new leadership of Nepal Bar Association (NBA) begun on Tuesday. According to Senior Advocate Hari Shankar Niraula, the chief of the election committee, KC took lead in the race for the post of chairman by garnering 751 votes out of 1,404 votes that were counted, while Bijay Kanta Mainali from the progressive panel had received 597 votes. In the contest of chairmanship, Manohar Shah has got 30 votes so far while Ram Prasad Prajapati received only 6 votes by the time vote counting was halted on Tuesday evening. Likewise, Khamba Bahadur Khati of the democratic panel has taken lead over Dinamani Pokharel of the progressive panel in a contest for general secretary. Khati has 687 votes while Pokharel has 607 votes so far. For the position of treasurer, Gyan Ratna Shakya of the democratic panel is running ahead of Hari Bahadur Khadka of the progressive panel. Shakya received 696 votes so far while Khadka has garnered only 588. According to Niraula, all the six candidates from democratic panel are taking lead in the contest of vice-chairman.