So I went down a rabbit hole asking AI about the whole Manoj Sharma CJ drama. Here's what it says:
🥇 1. Sapana Pradhan Malla — The one who actually deserved it
- Harvard MPA. Delhi LLM. 30+ years of work.
- Helped strike down 64 discriminatory laws in Nepal
- UN Committee Against Torture member
- Won international human rights awards
- Drafted the Human Trafficking Act that became a model for the entire South Asian region
- Why she got skipped: Old party background + she's a woman
🥈 2. Hari Prasad Phuyal — Most internationally credentialed
- LLM in International Human Rights Law from University of Essex UK
- LLM from NLSIU Bangalore (one of Asia's top law schools)
- Was Nepal's legal adviser to the UN OHCHR
- Was Attorney General of Nepal
- Why he got skipped: Considered close to Maoist/NCP
🥉 3. Kumar Regmi — Academic topper
- LLM from University of Toronto Canada
- LLM First Class First from Pune — won the Mahendra Vidya Bhushan (highest academic award by Government of Nepal)
- Won a Reproductive Health Law Scholarship at University of Toronto
- Why he got skipped: Considered close to Nepali Congress
4. Manoj Kumar Sharma — The one Balen actually picked
- PhD in Labour Law. LLM from Pune. Decent judicial record.
- No party label ✅
- Got into Supreme Court through his uncle who was a former Chief Justice ❌
- His qualifications were legally challenged in court when he was first appointed in 2019 ❌
- The CJ who recommended him literally said publicly "I have vested interest in his recommendation" ❌
- Was on the SAME bench that bailed out the infamous 2020 drunk driving case btw ❌
5. Nahakul Subedi — Who?
Literally barely any public profile. Born 1971. Justice since 2019. That's about it.
6. Til Prasad Shrestha — Also who?
Career judge. Zero standout record publicly available.
THE BRUTAL SUMMARY:
Balen basically ran a one-filter algorithm:
>"Does this person have a party label? YES → eliminate. NO → pick."
The three most qualified candidates all got filtered out by politics. The guy who survived the filter only survived because his corruption was family nepotism rather than party affiliation.
So Balen — the anti-establishment, anti-corruption, Gen Z PM — just appointed someone whose entire career entry was built on nepotism, because nepotism apparently doesn't count as the "old system" in his book.
The system isn't just broken. It's broken in a way that actively selects AGAINST the best people and FOR the most connected ones. Every single time.
tl;dr: The 4th best candidate got picked. The top 3 were eliminated purely by politics. Nepal moment.