Sher Bahadur Deuba About this sound listen is a Nepalese politician and the Prime Minister of Nepal, in office since 2017. He previously served as Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005. He is also the President of the Nepali Congress, elected with more than 60% of the votes at the party’s 13th Convention in 2016. He has twice been elected as the leader of parliamentary party of the Nepali Congress, thus enabling him to be elected twice as the Prime Minister of Nepal.
He was elected as Prime Minister for the second time when he succeeded Girija Prasad Koirala, who resigned in July 2001. He dissolved the House of Representatives on May 2002 in order to hold new elections but was unable to do so due to the ongoing civil war. This also led to a split in Nepali Congress with Deuba heading the Nepali Congress (Democratic). King Gyanendra then removed Deuba in October 2002 terming him incompetent for not holding parliamentary elections. After two other governments, Gyanendra restored Deuba to the position of Prime Minister in 2004. He was again removed from office on 1 February 2005 by King Gyanendra, who dissolved the government for three years and seized direct power.
Deuba was sentenced to two years in prison in July 2005 under corruption charges, but was subsequently released on February 13, 2006, after the anti-corruption body that sentenced him was outlawed. An official from Deuba’s Nepali Congress (Democratic) party, Dip Kumar Upadhaya, told the Associated Press that Deuba’s release was “a victory for democracy and a humiliating defeat for the royal regime”.