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Amid a political vacuum in Nepal after former prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation, factions of Gen-Z protestors are in discussions to choose contenders for the next prime minister of the country.
Violent protests broke out in the country earlier this week, which resulted in the deaths of at least 30 people in left over 1000 injured, according to the Nepal health ministry.
In a fresh wave of protests which broke out Tuesday, protestors set government and private buildings on fire, including the country’s Parliament and Supreme Court. Houses of the country’s lawmakers and ministers were also torched.
No final decision has been made yet, even as talks between the protestors, President Ram Chandra Paudel, and Army Chief Ashok Raj Sigdel continue. Multiple outlets reported that there had been a scuffle among those supporting different contenders.
With the anti-corruption revolt being leaderless, four frontrunners have since emerged for the next prime minister of the country. The four names which have come up, including Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, former chief justice Sushila Karki, former chief of the electricity board Kulman Ghising, and mayor of Dharan, Harka Raj Sampang Rai, aka Harka Sampang.
Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah, a former rapper, has stood in support of the Gen Z protestors, with several youths in Nepal calling him the “voice of a new generation.” Balen holds degrees in civil engineering and structural engineering, and has been active as a rapper and lyricist in Nepal’s hip-hop scene. He won the mayoral elections in Kathmandu in 2022 as an independent candidate.
Sushila Karki‘s name came up after protestors consulted the secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association. The first female chief justice of Nepal, Karki has given several landmark rulings, including enabling women to pass citizenship rights to their children.
She served as the chief justice from July, 2016 to June, 2017. An impeachment motion was brought against her by political parties, who accused her of interfering with the executive’s decisions. However, the motion was later withdrawn.
Kulman Ghising is a former electricity board CEO, who is credited with ending years of load-shedding in Nepal. An electrical engineer by training, he obtained his degree from Regional Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, India. He completed his master’s degree from Nepal’s Tribhuvan University.
He began his career at the Nepal Electricity Authority in 1994, and was appointed managing director in 2016. He eliminated the 18-hour daily power cuts in Nepal. However, Ghising was removed from the post of executive director by the Oli government in March, 2025, drawing criticism from opposition parties and civilians.
Harka Sampang, the independent mayor of Dharan, has also figured in the discussions for the choosing of the next leader of the country. Sampang has established himself as one among the civilians, often rejecting VIP privileges.
He has worked as a migrant worker in Afghanistan, following which he returned to his hometown Dharan and began working on local issues, according to Nepali Times. His work gained traction on social media, leading to his election as a mayor in 2022 as an independent candidate.