Sher Bahadur Deuba is a Nepalese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005, and from 2017 to 2018. He is also the President of 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 Prime Minister for the second time when he succeeded Girija Prasad Koirala who resigned in July 2001. Deuba dissolved the House of Representatives in 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 spearheading the Nepali Congress party. 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 February 1, 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 13 February 2006 after the anti-corruption body that sentenced him was outlawed. An official from Deuba's Nepali Congress 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".
Political career
Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected as a Member of Parliament three times, representing Dadeldhura District. Following street protests against the UML government of Man Mohan Adhikari, he was declared the Parliamentary Leader of Nepali Congress in 1994. In the election held to select the Parliamentary Leader for Nepali Congress following the resignation of G. P. Koirala, in 2001, he defeated Sushil Koirala by a huge margin. This victory established him as a powerful leader, especially because his rival was supported by G. P. Koirala, the president of Nepali Congress. However, in 2009, he lost the election for the position of the Leader of the Parliamentary Party of the Nepali Congress to Ram Chandra Paudel. His loss was attributed to his support for party leader G. P. Koirala, who wanted his daughter, Sujata Koirala, to lead the party.
Personal life
Deuba comes from Ganyapdhura Gaupalika Ward No. 01 previously known as, Dadeldhura, one of the most remote district in the Far West Region of Nepal.. He has six brothers, including Sher Bahadur, who is the eldest. He is married to Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba. In November 2016, Deuba was conferred an honorary doctorate degree by Jawaharlal Nehru University. Deuba has a Master's Degree in Political Science and he holds a Bachelor's Degree in Arts and Law. He has been a Research Fellow of Political Science at the London School of Economics from 1988 to 1992; however, Sher Bahadur Deuba was a research fellow at the LSE also. Deuba seems to have registered as a student under a category called research fee, allowing him to use the LSE library and have a professor assigned for general guidance.
Nepali Congress (Democratic)
After dispute between Girija Prasad Koirala, President of Nepali Congress and Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Prime Minister, over continuation of Emergency Situation in Nepal, Nepali Congress underwent vertical split into Nepali Congress led by Koirala and Nepali Congress led by Deuba. Both parties ultimately merged in 2007 with the name of unified party to remain as Nepali Congress.
In the Constituent Assembly election held on 10 April 2008, the Nepali Congress nominated Deuba as its candidate for Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur-4 constituencies under the first-past-the-post system. He won from both the constituencies. In the subsequent vote for Prime Minister, held in the Constituent Assembly on 15 August 2008, Deuba was nominated by the Nepali Congress, but was defeated by Prachanda of the Communist Party of Nepal. Deuba received 113 votes, while Prachanda received 464.
2017 - present
He was sworn in as Prime Minister of Nepal on 7 June 2017. Deuba was in charge of the government that successfully conduct the elections of all three levels in different phases in 2017. After a successful tenure, he resigned on 15 February 2018, paving way for KP Oli to take upon the premiership, after Nepali Congress faced a humiliating result and the Nepal Communist Party emerged as the largest party in the 2017 Nepalese legislative election. The defeat has been attributed to the decision made to impeach Chief JusticeSushila Karki as well as the tepid response to the Indian blockade by the Nepali Congress.
