Sushila Karki took oath as Nepal’s first female Prime Minister

After Nepal’s Gen Z movement, Sushila Karki, a former student of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in India, has been appointed as the Prime Minister of the interim government. Sushila Karki is the first woman to hold the post of Prime Minister in Nepal.

• On the recommendation of newly appointed interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved the lower house of the Federal Parliament, the House of Representatives, and announced new parliamentary elections to be held on March 21 next year.
• Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki took oath as the Prime Minister of Nepal’s interim government and became the first woman to lead the country.
• Karki, a former student of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in India, was among four candidates before being finally chosen after deliberations with President Paudel, Army Chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel, and representatives of the young protesters known as “Generation Z.”
• This swearing-in ceremony took place after deadly violence in recent days by Generation Z protesters, which erupted due to anger over government restrictions on major social media platforms and corruption. Several people lost their lives in these deadly clashes, leading to the resignation of K. P. Sharma Oli from the post of Nepal’s Prime Minister.

Sushila Karki

• Sushila Karki made history in July 2016 by becoming Nepal’s first female Chief Justice. However, her tenure ended in less than a year when lawmakers filed an impeachment motion against her, accusing her of giving “biased judgments” and “interfering” in the jurisdiction of the executive.
• Although the impeachment was automatically suspended pending investigation, it failed to secure the required two-thirds majority before her retirement in June 2017.
• Born on June 7, 1952, in Biratnagar, the former jurist studied Political Science at BHU in 1975 and Law at Tribhuvan University in 1978. Before becoming Chief Justice, she served as a judge of the Supreme Court, senior advocate, and professor of law.
• After retirement, Karki has written two books. ‘Nyaya’ is her autobiography, while ‘Kara’ is a novel inspired by her experiences in prison during the 1990 people’s movement, which led to the restoration of multiparty democracy in Nepal.
• She is also a writer on gender equality and has long been associated with human rights and women’s judicial organizations. Karki has been honored with several awards, including the Possible Law Award (2004).