List of Prime Ministers of Nepal (1806-Present): Full List

The first person to hold the powers of a prime minister in Nepal was Bhimsen Thapa (Bikram Sambat 1832-1896, roughly 1775-1839 AD). He served as Mukhtiyar, the single supreme executive authority under the Shah kings, from 1806 until 1837, making him both the first and the longest-serving head of government in Nepali history at around 31 years. Under his stewardship Nepal's frontiers reached their greatest extent before the Anglo-Nepalese War and the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli.

It is worth noting a distinction that trips up many Loksewa (Public Service Commission) candidates. The office Bhimsen Thapa held was called Mukhtiyar, not 'Prime Minister'. The English-style title 'Prime Minister' (Pradhanmantri) was first adopted only in November 1843 by Mathabar Singh Thapa, who was the last Mukhtiyar and the first to formally style himself Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief. For this reason, some sources list Mathabar Singh Thapa as the first titular prime minister while listing Bhimsen Thapa as the first functional one.

In everyday reference and in most examination answer keys, Bhimsen Thapa is accepted as the first prime minister of Nepal because he first concentrated prime-ministerial executive power in a single office from 1806. This article uses that convention while noting the 1843 change of title where it matters.

Between the fall of Bhimsen Thapa in 1837 and the rise of the Ranas in 1846, Nepal's court was gripped by intense factional rivalry among the Thapa, Pande and Shah nobility. The office of Mukhtiyar changed hands rapidly and often violently, with several figures holding it more than once. This turbulent decade culminated in the Kot Massacre of 15 September 1846, which brought Jung Bahadur Rana to power.

The chief authorities of this transitional period included Ranga Nath Poudyal (the first Khas-Brahmin to hold the office), Rana Jang Pande, Pushkar Shah, Fateh Jung Shah and Mathabar Singh Thapa. Fateh Jung Shah, who was serving as a joint prime minister at the time, was killed during the Kot Massacre. This instability directly enabled the century of hereditary Rana rule that followed.

From 1846 to 1951 the office of prime minister was the real seat of power in Nepal, held hereditarily by the Rana family while the Shah kings were reduced to ceremonial figureheads. Jung Bahadur Rana seized control after the Kot Massacre and secured a hereditary succession, initially passing through his brothers and later through the Shumsher branch. The Rana regime kept Nepal isolated and largely feudal for over a century.

The Rana line was formally ended by the 1950-51 revolution (the Delhi Compromise), which restored the monarchy under King Tribhuvan and opened Nepal to multiparty politics. Mohan Shumsher, the last Rana prime minister, briefly headed a joint Rana-Congress cabinet before the office passed to elected civilian leaders. The eleven Rana prime ministers, in order, are listed below with their tenures.

After the Ranas fell, Nepal entered decades of experimentation between multiparty democracy and royal control. Matrika Prasad Koirala became the first non-Rana prime minister in 1951. Bishweshwar Prasad (B.P.) Koirala of the Nepali Congress became the first democratically elected prime minister in May 1959 after Nepal's first general election, but King Mahendra dismissed his government in December 1960 and banned political parties.

From 1960 to 1990 Nepal ran the party-less Panchayat system, in which the king held real power and prime ministers served at his pleasure. Long stretches of direct royal rule alternated with appointed premiers such as Tulsi Giri, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Kirti Nidhi Bista, Nagendra Prasad Rijal, Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Marich Man Singh Shrestha. Several of these figures returned to office repeatedly across different systems, which is why the same names recur in the full chronological list.

The 1990 People's Movement (Jana Andolan I) ended the Panchayat, restored multiparty democracy and established a constitutional monarchy. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai led the interim government, and Girija Prasad Koirala became prime minister after the 1991 election.

The period after 1990 was dominated by frequent changes of government amid rivalry between the Nepali Congress and the communist parties, and complicated by the decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2006). Girija Prasad Koirala served as prime minister five times, and Sher Bahadur Deuba has served a record five terms as well. Man Mohan Adhikari of the CPN (UML) became Nepal's first communist prime minister in 1994.

The second People's Movement of 2006 (Jana Andolan II) stripped King Gyanendra of power, and in 2008 the Constituent Assembly abolished the 240-year-old monarchy, making Nepal a federal democratic republic. Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', the former Maoist leader, became the first prime minister of the republic. The 2015 Constitution locked in a federal parliamentary system in which the president appoints as prime minister the leader who commands a majority in the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha) under Article 76.

The republican era has again seen recurring leaders: K.P. Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sher Bahadur Deuba each returned to the office multiple times. In September 2025, mass Generation-Z anti-corruption protests forced Oli to resign, and Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, was appointed as interim prime minister on 12 September 2025, becoming the first woman to lead the government of Nepal. Following the March 2026 general election, Balendra (Balen) Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party was sworn in on 27 March 2026 as the 43rd prime minister and, at age 35, the youngest in Nepal's history.

Beyond the chronology, a handful of 'firsts' and records account for most name-specific searches by students and Loksewa aspirants. Bhimsen Thapa is both the first head of government and, at about 31 years in office, the longest-serving. Mathabar Singh Thapa was the first to actually carry the title 'Prime Minister' in 1843. B.P. Koirala was the first elected prime minister; Man Mohan Adhikari the first communist prime minister; and Sushila Karki the first woman prime minister.

On age, Balendra Shah is the youngest prime minister in Nepal's history, sworn in on 27 March 2026 at the age of 35 (born 27 April 1990). Before entering national politics he was the mayor of Kathmandu and is widely known as a rapper and structural engineer. Among the Rana prime ministers, Chandra Shumsher had one of the longest single tenures at roughly 28 years (1901-1929), while Dev Shumsher had one of the shortest at about 114 days in 1901.