Ila Sharma, former Election Commissioner of Nepal and a prominent journalist, passed away in Kathmandu on the evening of July 12 following a sudden cardiac arrest.
According to her husband, former Chief Election Commissioner of India S.Y. Quraishi, Sharma collapsed unexpectedly while having a conversation with a friend at her residence in Kathmandu. “I was in the next room. As was her only brother who was visiting from Varanasi,” Quraishi told PTI. He added that although she had no prior history of heart disease, she was diabetic and suffered from an acute frozen shoulder.
Sharma was rushed to Norvic International Hospital in Thapathali, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. The news of her passing was confirmed by former journalist Amrita Lamsal and National Human Rights Commission member Mohana Ansari. Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Poudel and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba extended their condolences on Sunday.
Sharma is survived by her husband and two daughters. According to a 2016 article in The Telegraph, she met S.Y. Quraishi at a conference on money in politics held in Mexico the previous year.
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About: Ila Sharma
Sharma served as Election Commissioner of Nepal from 2013 to 2019, where she led the Legal Drafting Committee and played a key role in shaping electoral laws. Prior to that, she had a 13-year career with The Rising Nepal as a journalist and editor. She held multiple degrees, including a B.Sc. in bioscience, an LL.B. in common law, and dual LL.M.s in Public International Law and International Business Law from Tribhuvan University and the University of Hull, UK, respectively. She was also a Chevening and Erasmus Mundus scholar and was actively pursuing a PhD at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Sharma was widely respected for her contributions to media, law, gender advocacy, and electoral reform, and held leadership roles in organizations like ActionAid Nepal. She was known for championing economic justice, peacebuilding, and women’s rights throughout her career. [Rh/Eth/VP]
