Provincial Governments of Nepal: Chief Ministers, Governors & Cabinets (All 7 Provinces)

Nepal became a federal republic under the Constitution of Nepal, promulgated on 20 September 2015 (3 Ashwin 2072 BS). The Constitution created three tiers of government: federal, provincial and local. Seven provinces were carved out under Schedule 4, dividing the country's 77 districts among them. Each province is a self-governing unit with its own elected assembly, executive and judiciary, exercising powers listed in the constitutional schedules for exclusive provincial and shared (concurrent) jurisdiction.

Each province is governed by a unicameral Provincial Assembly (Pradesh Sabha). Sixty percent of its members are elected through the first-past-the-post system and forty percent through closed-list proportional representation, for a five-year term. The party or coalition commanding a majority forms the provincial government, and its leader is appointed Chief Minister. Across all seven assemblies there are 550 members in total.

The provincial executive is headed by the Chief Minister (Mukhyamantri), who leads a Council of Ministers. Running parallel to the elected executive is the Governor (Pradesh Pramukh), the ceremonial head of the province and the constitutional representative of the federal government. This division mirrors the federal arrangement, where the President is head of state and the Prime Minister is head of government.

The Chief Minister is the political head of a provincial government, comparable to a state premier. Under Article 167 of the Constitution, the Governor appoints as Chief Minister the leader of the parliamentary party that commands a majority in the Provincial Assembly; where no single party has a majority, a coalition leader who can command majority support is appointed. The Chief Minister must retain the confidence of the assembly and can be removed by a vote of no confidence.

The table below reflects the incumbents recorded in early 2026. Nepal's provincial politics is highly fluid, with frequent coalition realignments and reshuffles, so always confirm the sitting Chief Minister against the relevant Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers (OCMCM) before relying on a name. As of this compilation, the Nepali Congress led four provinces and the CPN (UML) led three.

The Governor is the head of a province and the constitutional representative of the Government of Nepal within it, established under Article 163 of the Constitution. Governors are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the federal Council of Ministers, hold office at the President's pleasure, and serve a term of up to five years. A candidate must be qualified to be a member of the Federal Parliament, at least 35 years old, and not disqualified by any law; a person cannot be appointed Governor of the same province twice.

The Governor's role is largely ceremonial. Provincial executive power is formally vested in the Governor but is exercised on the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister. Key formal functions include appointing the Chief Minister, administering oaths of office, summoning and proroguing assembly sessions, giving assent to provincial bills, and, in a constitutional breakdown, recommending President's Rule in the province.

As recorded in early 2026, the seven Governors included, among others, Deepak Prakash Devkota (Bagmati), Dilli Raj Bhatta (Gandaki) and Surendra Labh Karn (Madhesh). Because Governors serve at the pleasure of the federal government, the roster changes whenever the ruling coalition in Kathmandu changes; the official provincial OCMCM websites list the current officeholder.

Each province has a Provincial Assembly established under Part 14 of the Constitution, with membership fixed in Schedule 4 based on population and geography. The assemblies range from 40 members in Karnali to 110 in Bagmati. The assembly enacts provincial laws, approves the provincial budget, and holds the executive to account. Its members are elected for five years unless the assembly is dissolved earlier.

Every assembly elects a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker from among its members, who must belong to different parties and, by convention, be of different genders. The Speaker presides over sittings, maintains order, decides points of order and certifies money bills. In the second-term assemblies elected in 2022, the Speaker of the Koshi Provincial Assembly was Baburam Gautam and the Speaker of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly was Bhuwan Kumar Pathak; speakership can change on resignation, death or a fresh election, so verify current holders with each assembly secretariat.

The seat totals per province are: Koshi 93, Madhesh 107, Bagmati 110, Gandaki 60, Lumbini 87, Karnali 40 and Sudurpashchim 53. These numbers combine first-past-the-post and proportional seats. A party or coalition needs a simple majority of the assembly to form the government and to survive a confidence vote.

The Provincial Council of Ministers is formed under Article 168 of the Constitution. Its size is capped: the total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, must not exceed 20 percent of the total membership of the Provincial Assembly. This keeps cabinets lean — a smaller assembly such as Karnali's supports far fewer ministries than Bagmati's. Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the Chief Minister and are collectively responsible to the assembly.

The exact list of ministries varies by province and is periodically reorganised, but provinces typically run portfolios covering internal affairs and law; economic affairs and planning (finance); physical infrastructure and development; social development (education, health); land management, agriculture and cooperatives; industry, tourism, forests and environment; and water supply, energy and irrigation. Provinces exercise concurrent powers with the federation in many of these areas, so provincial ministries often work alongside federal counterparts.

The administrative and political engine of each provincial government is the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers (OCMCM), created in 2018 after the first provincial governments were formed. The OCMCM coordinates and supervises the ministries, manages provincial civil servants, drafts bills, ordinances and rules for cabinet approval, and promotes good governance. Each province maintains its own OCMCM web portal for official notices and services.

Every province has a designated capital that hosts its assembly, Governor's office and provincial secretariat. Several capitals were fixed by the provincial assemblies themselves after 2017, and a few decisions were politically contested. Below are the current provincial headquarters, which are the seats of government for their respective Chief Ministers and Governors.

Understanding the seat of government matters for anyone dealing with provincial administration, because provincial ministries, the OCMCM, the assembly secretariat and the high court of the province are generally located in or near the capital. The capitals also anchor each province's identity, from the eastern industrial hub of Biratnagar to the lakeside city of Pokhara in the centre-west.

Provincial governments have been shaped by a turbulent national backdrop. In September 2025, a youth-led 'Gen Z' protest movement, triggered by a social-media ban and anger over corruption, forced Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli to resign. Sushila Karki was appointed interim Prime Minister — the country's first woman to hold the office — the House of Representatives was dissolved, and fresh federal elections were called. Provincial assemblies were not dissolved in this process and continued to sit, though several provincial buildings were damaged during the unrest.

Federal elections were held on 5 March 2026. Because these were House of Representatives elections rather than provincial polls, they did not directly change provincial Chief Ministers, whose mandate flows from the assemblies elected in 2022. However, shifts in the federal ruling coalition typically ripple into the provinces through Governor appointments and coalition arithmetic in the assemblies, so provincial line-ups can change between formal elections.

Because of this volatility, the names in this hub should be treated as a snapshot for early 2026. For a legally current answer to questions like 'who is the Chief Minister of Bagmati Province', consult the province's OCMCM website or the Election Commission and reputable Nepali media, which report each appointment and reshuffle.