Nepal Ratna Man Padavi Madan Kumar Bhandari () (27 June 1951 – 17 May 1993), commonly known as Madan Bhandari, was a popular Nepali political leader belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), a democratic communist party in Nepal. He defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in a landslide victory of 1991 general election. Known for his charismatic style, Bhandari had propounded the popular communist principle or thought "People's Multiparty Democracy" (). He is widely regarded for peaking the Nepal's communist movement to a greater height. He died in a jeep accident in Dasdhunga, Chitwan, in 1993. Life Madan Bhandari was born in the Dhungesangu village of Taplejung district in eastern Nepal. He studied in Medibung School in Taplejung and in Varanasi, India. In 1972, he became a central committee member of the Janabadi Sanskritik Morcha (Democratic Cultural Front), a student movement established by Pushpa Lal Shrestha. Around 1976 he left Pushpa Lal's Communist Party of Nepal to create the Mukti Morcha Samuha ("Liberation Front Group"), which formed an alliance with the survivors of the Jhapa Movement in 1978. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) preceding the 1980 referendum and was elected General-Secretary at its Fourth National Congress in 1986. Bhandari became the General-Secretary when CPN (ML) merged into the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) in 1991. He played a central role in the CPN (UML) program of "People's Multiparty Democracy," which left his party as the strongest communist party in Nepal for several years even after his death. 1991 elections and aftermath The CPN (UML), under the leadership of Bhandari, won all but one seat in the Himalayan capital in the 1991 elections, the country's first free election after more than three decades. Bhandari proclaimed this "a vote for democracy," "a vote for independence" and "a vote for the alleviation of poverty." He argued for the popular vote as opposed to armed struggle as the main tactic for communists. Personal life Bhandari was married to Bidya Devi Bhandari in 1982. Ms. Bhandari at the time of her wedding to Bhandari was a junior political cadre of his party who later became the first female President of Nepal. The couple had two daughters, Usha Kiran Bhandari and Nisha Kusum Bhandari. Both daughters are married. Death On May 16, 1993 Bhandari died in a car accident in Dasdhunga, Chitwan. According