Who Is Sushila Karki? Ex Chief Justice Among Frontrunners For Interim Nepal PM

After KP Sharma resigned as the Prime Minister of Nepal amid violent protests, former Chief Justice Sushila Karki has emerged as one of the possible candidates to lead the new transition government.

This comes a day after Nepal plunged into political crisis prompting the Nepal Army to take over law and order.

Since the past 24 hours, there is no government in place in Nepal.

"The Gen Z group is currently holding discussion on Zoom to finalise the name of the person to lead the interim government. Three names are under consideration for the post of Interim Prime Minister," according to the sources close to Gen Z group, a report by PTI states.

Here are 5 things you need to know about her:

• Sushila Karki was Nepal's first female Chief Justice serving in the role from July 2016 to June 2017. She adopted a policy of zero tolerance against corruption during her tenure.
• Born as the eldest daughter out of seven children, Karki's family came from a farmer background and had close ties with BP Koirala's family, who was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1959 to 1960.
• Karki completed her BA from Mahendra Morang Campus in 1972 and MA in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University in 1975. She then completed her Bachelor of Laws from Tribhuvan University in 1978.
• During her tenure, the then Information and Communications Minister Jaiprakash Prasad Gupta was convicted in a corruption case.
• She was briefly suspended from the role of Chief Justice after the lawmakers from the ruling parties - Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) registered an impeachment motion at the House of Representatives in April 2017 against her because of an alleged biased verdict which was crucial to oust the powerful chief of the anti-corruption body over eligibility grounds.