Three candidates in the fray to become next Sri Lankan PM. Who are they?

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is facing the ire after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to  Maldives amid deepening tensions in the crisis-hit island nation. On Wednesday, Wickremesinghe took over as the acting President. Rajapaksa had said he would resign by Wednesday, but the Speaker of Sri Lanka's Parliament is yet to receive the resignation letter from the President.

To tackle the ongoing political crisis in the country, a meeting of the leaders of political parties of Sri Lanka was conducted where it was decided that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should also resign immediately. Wickremesinghe, whose whereabouts are unknown, declared a state of emergency within hours of the President’s departure “to deal with the situation in the country".

On Monday, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, had said the country would elect a new president on July 20 after the President’s resignation on Wednesday. It was decided that the Parliament would reconvene on Friday and vote for the new president after five days. So far, the President hasn’t submitted his resignation to the Speaker.