Personal life

Sushil Koirala (Nepali: सुशील कोइराला; 12 August 1939 – 9 February 2016) also known as 'Sushil Da'  was born on 12 August 1939 in Biratnagar, Kathmandu to Bodh Prasad Koirala and Kumudini Devi Koirala as one of their six sons among nine children.

Political career

Being a descendant of the famous Koirala family, where three of his cousins, namely Girija Prasad Koirala, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and Matrika Prasad Koirala had served as Prime Minister of Nepal at different points of time, it didn't take long for Sushil Koirala to plunge into the ongoing democratic movement. Inspired by the ideology of the B. P. Koirala's "Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism," in 1954, at the age of 15 he obtained the membership of the Nepali Congress (NC) Party.

In 1958 He keenly participated in Bhadra Abagya Aandalon, (Civil Disobedience Movement) launched by the Nepali Congress.

In 1959, he actively involved himself in the party's objective of carrying out the democratic elections. The election saw Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala become the first elected prime minister of the country. However, King Mahendra planned and executed a coup in December of 1960 and expelled Bishweswar Prasad Koirala. This resulted in the exile of several members of the Nepali Congress to India, which included Sushil Koirala. There he was forced to live for nearly two decades.

While in exile, he worked as an editor of Tarun Magazine, a Nepali Congress periodical published from Varanasi.

Koirala also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. He has been a member of the Central Working Committee of the party since 1979 and was appointed General Secretary of the party in 1996 and Vice President in 1998.

In 2001, he lost the contest for the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader to Sher Bahadur Deuba. Koirala was appointed acting President of the party in 2008 by President Girija Prasad Koirala. On 22 September 2010, the 12th general convention of the Nepali Congress elected him as party President.

The Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections under Koirala's leadership. He was elected leader of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary party securing 105 out of 194 votes against former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's 89 votes and on 10 February 2014 he was nominated as prime minister. During his tenure as prime minister, his government was criticized for its slow aid response to the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. A historic agreement among four major political parties was also made that year, which paved the way for a new constitution in the country. Honoring a pledge to stand down as prime minister once the new constitution came into effect, Koirala resigned on 10 October 2015. He sought re-election but was defeated by Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, leader of Congress' former coalition partners CPN-UML

Electoral history

He was elected to the Pratinidhi Sabha from the Banke-2 constituency in 1991 and 1999 on a Nepali Congress ticket.

1991 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Banke-2

1994 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Banke-2

1999 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Banke-2

2008 Constituent Assembly Election Banke-3

Koirala lost from Banke-3 coming in third behind the candidates of the Madeshi People's Rights Forum and the CPN (Maoist)

2013 Constituent Assembly Elections

Koirala contested the 2013 constituent assembly elections from Banke-3 and Chitwan-4, winning both races.[17] Koirala later relinquished the Chitwan-4 seat and represented Banke-3 in the 2nd Constituent Assembly.

Banke-3

Chitwan-4

Career Timeline 

1939:    Born in Biratnagar

1950s:   Joined the Nepali Congress

1960:    Sent to political exile in India where he spent 16 years

1973:    Was part of the Congress party team involved in first ever plane hijacking in Nepal

1990:    Actively participated in the Jana Andolan that turned absolute monarchy into constitutional

1991, 1997:    Elected lawmaker from Banke-2

2000:    Lost to Sher Bahadur Deuba in party parliamentary leader election

2006:    Led protests, popularly known as Jana Andolan II, that ended a centuries-old monarchy system and turned Nepal into a republic

2008:    Lost first Constituent Assembly elections

2010:    Defeated Sher Bahadur Deuba to become party president

2013:    Won second Constituent Assembly elections from Banke and Chitwan, led the party to make it the single largest party

Feb 2014:    Became the 37th prime minister of Nepal

Nov 2014:    Hosted the Saarc Summit successfully in Kathmandu

Sept 2015:    As the prime minister brought together the bickering parties to promulgate the constitution in September

Feb 9, 2016:    Died at 12:50am at his residence in Maharajgunj