Sher Bahadur Deuba

He began his political career as a student and alongside others founded the Nepal Student Union, a student wing of the Nepali Congress. From 1971 to 1980, he served as president of the student wing.[1] During the 1960s and 1970s, Deuba was jailed intermittently for nine years for working against the Panchayat system.[5]

Deuba was an active campaigner during the 1990 revolution which dissolved the partyless Panchayat system and ushered in the beginning of multiparty democracy.[6] In the next year's general elections, he was elected to the House of Representatives from Dadeldhura 1.[7] He served as the Minister of Home Affairs in the cabinet of Girija Prasad Koirala.[7] After Koirala dissolved the parliament and his government was defeated in the 1994 mid-term elections, Deuba was elected parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress.[8][9] After Manmohan Adhikari tried to dissolve the parliament again in 1995 which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, Deuba was appointed Prime Minister in 1995 and led a coalition government with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party.[10][11][12]

On 12 February 1996, he signed the Mahakali treaty with the Government of India regarding the development of the watershed of the Mahakali River.[13] His administration, which witnessed the beginning of the Maoist insurgency, fell in March 1997 and he was succeeded by Lokendra Bahadur Chand who led a minority coalition government.[12][14]

Following the resignation of Girija Prasad Koirala as prime minister, Deuba defeated Sushil Koirala to become the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress and was appointed Prime Minister for a second time on 26 July 2001.[12] He became prime minister shortly after the royal massacre and during the heights of the Maoist insurgency, and he soon announced a ceasefire with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).[12] In August 2001, he began peace talks with the Maoists, but after the Maoists pulled out of talks and attacked the army in November 2001, Deuba declared a state of emergency, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) was listed as a "terrorist organisation".[12][15]

In early 2002, Deuba requested a dissolution of the parliament in order to hold fresh elections.[12] The same year, he founded the breakaway party, Nepali Congress (Democratic).[12][16] In October 2002, King Gyanendra took over the democratically elected Government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba.[17][18][19]

Sher Bahadur Deuba with Manmohan Singh in 2004

After two other governments in two years, Deuba was reappointed as prime minister by King Gyanendra on 4 June 2004.[20][21] A year later, following the 2005 Nepal coup d'état led by the king, who suspended the constitution and assumed direct authority, Deuba and his cabinet members were put under house arrest, and "key constitutional rights were suspended, soldiers enforced complete censorship, and communications were cut".[22] In July 2005, he was sentenced to two years in prison by former King Gyanendra but was subsequently released on 13 February 2006 after the prison sentence was outlawed by the Supreme Court of Nepal.[23][24] In September 2007, Deuba dissolved his splinter party and rejoined the Nepali Congress.[25]

In the Constituent Assembly election held on 10 April 2008, Deuba was nominated by the Nepali Congress as its candidate for both Dadeldhura 1 and Kanchanpur 4 constituencies.[26] He won from both the constituencies and gave up his Kanchanpur 4 seat, where he was replaced by Harish Thakulla of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), who he defeated in the general election, after a by-election.[27]

In the subsequent vote for prime minister held in the Constituent Assembly on 15 August 2008, Deuba was nominated as the Nepali Congress candidate but was defeated by Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the UCPN (Maoist). Deuba received 113 votes, while Dahal received 464.[28][29]

In 2009, after the fall of the Dahal-led government and the ailing health of party president Girija Prasad Koirala, Deuba put up his candidacy to become the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress in a bid to become the prime minister again but was defeated by Ram Chandra Poudel.[30][31]

Deuba with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in 2017

Deuba, a veteran leader of Nepali Congress was chosen party president for the first time from the 13th general convention of the party beating Ram Chandra Paudel.[32] He ran alongside Senior Congress Leader Arjun Narasingha KC as his General Secretary and Sita Devi Yadav as his Treasurer.

He eventually assigned Bimalendra Nidhi as party Vice-president, Purna Bahadur Khadka as general secretary and Prakash Sharan Mahat deputy general secretary.[33]

After the death of Sushil Koirala, in 2016, Deuba was elected president of the Nepali Congress at the party's thirteenth general convention defeating his intra-party rival, Ram Chandra Poudel, receiving almost 60% of the votes cast.[34]

In August 2016, Deuba struck a deal with Pushpa Kamal Dahal to lead a rotational government led by the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Nepali Congress for nine months each in the lead to the general elections in late 2017. Per the agreement, he was sworn in as Prime Minister for a fourth stint on 7 June 2017.[35][36] On 17 October 2017, all ministers from the CPN (Maoist Centre) left the cabinet after they formed an electoral alliance with the CPN (UML) in preparation for the general election and rescinded support to the Deuba government.[37][38]

Deuba was in charge of the government that successfully conducted elections of all three levels (parliamentary, provincial, and local) in different phases in 2017. He resigned on 15 February 2018, paving way for KP Sharma Oli, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), the largest party in the 2017 polls, to become prime minister.[39][40]

On 21 May 2021, after prime minister KP Sharma Oli failed to obtain a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives, the opposition alliance – comprising the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of the CPN (UML) and Upendra Yadav faction of the People's Socialist Party, Nepal – asked the president to appoint Deuba prime minister, per Article 76 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal, presenting signatures of majority members of the House of Representatives to stake claim to a new government.[41][42] The president denied this claim, stating neither Deuba nor Oli could be appointed prime minister after Oli also demanded to be reappointed.[43][44] The president also dissolved the lower house for the second time in five months and called for fresh elections later in November.[45]

On 12 July 2021, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, formed to hear writs against the dissolution of the House of Representatives filed by the opposition alliance, ruled that president Bidya Devi Bhandari's decision to dissolve the House of Representatives on the recommendation of prime minister Oli was unlawful and ordered the appointment of Deuba as prime minister within 28 hours, legitimising his earlier claim.[46][47][48][49]

President Bhandari appointed Deuba as the prime minister in accordance with Article 76 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal, and he was sworn in for a fifth term on 13 July 2021.[50][51] Required to win a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives within thirty days of his appointment per Article 76 (6) of the constitution, Deuba did so on 18 July 2021, receiving 165 votes in his favour and 83 against in the 275-member house.[52][53] This guaranteed his government to remain in office for at least a year and a half, until the next general elections will be held in late 2022.[54][55]

Deuba was elected second time as party president of Nepali Congress. Deuba was unable to win in the first round after none was able to secure 51% votes as per the Constitution of the party. The condition went against him when his close confidant and party vice president Bimalendra Nidhi filed candidacy for the post.[56][57]

PM Deuba launching Senior Leader Arjun Narasingha KC's book at a program in Baluwatar

In the second round he was elected president for the second time after receiving support from Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi.[58][59] Garnering nearly 60% votes, Deuba was elected party president for the second time.[60][61]