Loktantra Diwas is the day Nepal remembers a street victory. It falls on Baishakh 11 every year, which is 24 April in most years, and it marks the night in 2063 BS when King Gyanendra gave up direct rule and put the dissolved House of Representatives back in place.
It took nineteen days of continuous protest to get to that announcement. It cost lives. It did not abolish the monarchy, and that is the detail most people get wrong about this day. On the night of Baishakh 11, 2063, Nepal was still a kingdom. What had changed was that the king no longer ran the country.
Everything that followed, including the republic declared two years later on Jestha 15, 2065, was made possible by those nineteen days.
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Detail |
Information |
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Nepali Name |
लोकतन्त्र दिवस |
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English Name |
Democracy Day, sometimes written as Loktantra Day or the April Uprising anniversary |
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Date in Bikram Sambat |
Baishakh 11, every year |
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Usual Gregorian Date |
23 or 24 April |
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Commemorates |
The royal proclamation of Baishakh 11, 2063 BS (24 April 2006) |
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Movement It Marks |
Jana Andolan II, also called the second people's movement or the April Uprising |
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Length of the Movement |
19 days, from Chaitra 24, 2062 to Baishakh 11, 2063 |
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Public Holiday |
No. It was removed from the public holiday list in 2075 BS and is now a national observance only |
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Not to Be Confused With |
Prajatantra Diwas on Falgun 7 and Ganatantra Diwas on Jestha 15 |
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Anniversary Count |
2082 BS marked the 20th Loktantra Diwas |
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Bikram Sambat Date |
Day |
Gregorian Date |
Loktantra Diwas |
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Baishakh 11, 2082 BS |
Thursday |
24 April 2025 |
20th Loktantra Diwas |
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Baishakh 11, 2083 BS |
Friday |
24 April 2026 |
21st Loktantra Diwas |
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Baishakh 11, 2084 BS |
Saturday |
24 April 2027 |
22nd Loktantra Diwas |
Baishakh 11 remains fixed in the Nepali calendar. Its Gregorian equivalent is usually 24 April, but it can fall on 23 April in years when Baishakh begins on 13 April.
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To understand why half a million people ended up on the Ring Road, you have to know how bad the situation had become.
On 19 Jestha 2058, which is 1 June 2001, King Birendra and almost his entire immediate family were killed inside Narayanhiti Palace. Gyanendra, Birendra's brother, came to the throne. The official inquiry named Crown Prince Dipendra as the shooter, but the event left a permanent crack in the public relationship with the palace.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had begun an armed insurgency in Falgun 2052, which is February 1996. By 2005 the conflict had spread into almost every district and had killed more than 13,000 people. Whole stretches of the hills were outside government control.
Parliament was dissolved in 2059 BS, and elections were repeatedly postponed. Nepal spent the next few years without an elected legislature, with prime ministers appointed and dismissed by the palace.
On 1 February 2005, King Gyanendra dismissed the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba, took full executive power himself, declared a state of emergency, cut telephone and internet lines, put political leaders under house arrest and imposed censorship on the press. He said the parties had failed to hold elections or defeat the insurgency and that he would fix both within three years.
The takeover did the opposite of what it was meant to do. It removed the buffer between the palace and the parties, and it pushed the mainstream parties towards the Maoists.
In Mangsir 2062, which is November 2005, the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists signed a 12-point understanding in New Delhi. The parties agreed to fight royal rule, and the Maoists agreed to accept multiparty competition and a Constituent Assembly election. This is the document that made a joint street movement possible.
Jana Andolan II ran from Chaitra 24, 2062 to Baishakh 11, 2063, which is 6 to 24 April 2006. The scale grew every week.
A four-day general strike called by the Seven Party Alliance began. Protests broke out in Kathmandu and across the districts. More than 450 people were arrested on the first day alone.
The strike spread beyond the capital. On 8 April, a curfew was imposed in Kathmandu, and mobile phone service was cut. Clashes in the western districts, mainly Kapilvastu and Rupandehi, killed a large number of people. A demonstrator was shot dead in Chitwan.
Highways were blocked. Twelve-hour curfews became routine. The alliance called for a tax boycott. Then the professional associations joined, which changed the character of the movement. Lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, nurses, journalists and civil servants came out in their own uniforms and their own processions.
Crowds in Kathmandu reached figures estimated between 100,000 and 200,000. More than 500 professionals were arrested in a single sweep. Human rights organisations began reporting the detentions and the shootings internationally.
The king called for talks. The parties rejected the offer, because it did not include the reinstatement of parliament.
The king met political leaders and several detainees were released, but the movement had already passed the point where a partial concession could stop it.
The king nominated Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as Prime Minister. Bhattarai refused. Three protesters were shot dead at Kalanki in Kathmandu, which became one of the most remembered incidents of the movement.
The largest day. Estimates put more than 500,000 people on the streets of the Kathmandu Valley. That evening the king made his first proclamation, announcing that executive power was being returned to the people and asking the Seven Party Alliance to nominate a Prime Minister. The alliance rejected it because it said nothing about reinstating parliament.
The parties stated three demands in plain terms: reinstate the House of Representatives, form an all-party government, and hold elections to a Constituent Assembly.
A shoot-at-sight order was issued in parts of Kathmandu. In response, the alliance announced a mass rally that would encircle the Ring Road the next day. Estimates for the planned turnout ran into the millions.
Before the Ring Road rally could take place, the king made his second proclamation late that night. He reinstated the House of Representatives that had been dissolved in 2059 BS and called it to meet on 28 April. The alliance accepted, called off the movement, and Girija Prasad Koirala was named Prime Minister.
Counts vary by source and by what is included. The figures used most often in Nepal put the dead at around 21 to 25 people, with several thousand injured, many of them permanently. Families of those killed are formally recognised as martyrs of the second people's movement, and their names are read out at Loktantra Diwas programmes.
Loktantra Diwas is not only about the night of Baishakh 11. It is about what the reinstated House did in the weeks that followed, because that is where the actual transfer of power happened.
Jestha 4, 2063, which is 18 May 2006, the House of Representatives issued a proclamation that reads today like a list of everything a monarchy is:
The Nepal Army was brought under the control of the House and renamed from the Royal Nepal Army
The king lost his role as supreme commander of the army
The king lost immunity from prosecution
The palace budget came under parliamentary scrutiny and royal tax exemptions ended
The Raj Parishad, the royal advisory council, was scrapped
Nepal was declared a secular state, ending its status as a Hindu kingdom
The word Royal was removed from state institutions
After that proclamation, the king held a title and nothing else.
The rest of the sequence followed quickly. The Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed on Mangsir 5, 2063, which is 21 November 2006, ending the armed conflict. The Interim Constitution came into force on Poush 30, 2063, which is 15 January 2007. The interim legislature voted in Poush 2064 to declare Nepal a federal democratic republic, to take effect at the first meeting of the elected Constituent Assembly. That meeting took place on Jestha 15, 2065 and abolished the monarchy.
So the line runs cleanly: Baishakh 11, 2063 removed the king's power, and Jestha 15, 2065 removed the king.
Nepal has three political anniversaries with three similar-sounding names, and mixing them up is the most common mistake in Nepali civics.
Marks 2007 BS, when the Rana oligarchy fell after 104 years, and the Shah king returned to real authority with a promise of an elected system. Prajatantra is the older word for democracy. It comes from praja, meaning subjects, so the word itself carries the idea of a ruler above the people. Falgun 7 is a public holiday.
Marks 2063 BS, when nineteen days of protest ended royal rule and parliament was reinstated. Lok means people, so loktantra means rule by the people rather than rule over subjects. The word was deliberately chosen during Jana Andolan II to break with the older term. Baishakh 11 is not a public holiday.
Marks 2065 BS, when the Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy and declared the federal democratic republic. Gana means the collective body of citizens. Jestha 15 is a public holiday.
The shortest way to remember it: Prajatantra ended the Ranas, Loktantra ended the king's rule, Ganatantra ended the monarchy itself.
No, and this is worth stating clearly because a lot of calendars still show it wrongly.
Baishakh 11 was a gazetted public holiday for several years after 2063. In 2075 BS the Government of Nepal cut the total number of public holidays after sustained complaints from the private sector about lost working days. The list dropped from 104 days to 89, and twelve observances were removed outright. Loktantra Diwas was one of them.
Since then, Baishakh 11 has been a national observance rather than a day off. Government offices, banks, schools and private offices stay open. Official programmes still take place, usually in the morning or after office hours, and government bodies are directed to mark the day.
Ganatantra Diwas on Jestha 15 and Prajatantra Diwas on Falgun 7 both survived that cut and remain public holidays. That difference is exactly why so many people assume all three are either holidays or not.
The Government of Nepal holds a main function, usually attended by the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker
The national flag is hoisted, and the national anthem is played
Wreaths are laid at martyrs' memorials, and the names of those killed in Jana Andolan II are read
The President and Prime Minister issue messages to the nation
Ministries and departments hold their own short programmes
Provincial and local governments hold parallel events
The parties that formed the Seven Party Alliance hold assemblies and corner meetings
Speeches on this day are usually about defending the achievements of 2063 rather than celebrating them, which reflects the current mood
Party newspapers and party-affiliated unions publish special features
The professional associations that joined the movement in 2062/63, including the bar association, the medical association, the teachers' unions and the journalists' federation, hold their own commemorations
Newspapers publish retrospectives, interviews with movement participants and photo essays
Television channels run archive footage from April 2006 and panel discussions on what has and has not been delivered
Essay competitions, debates and speech contests on democracy and citizenship
Some campuses organise talks by people who took part in the movement
Many of the people wounded in Jana Andolan II carry permanent disability. Their treatment, compensation and recognition remain a live political issue, and their organisations use Loktantra Diwas each year to press the state on unfulfilled commitments. Any honest coverage of this day includes that.
Loktantra - rule by the people, the word adopted during Jana Andolan II
Prajatantra - the older word for democracy, from praja meaning subjects
Ganatantra - republic
Jana Andolan - people's movement
Saptadaliya Gathabandhan - the Seven Party Alliance
Barhabunde Samjhauta - the 12-point understanding of Mangsir 2062
Pratinidhi Sabha - the House of Representatives
Ghoshana Patra - the proclamation, used for both the royal proclamation of Baishakh 11 and the House proclamation of Jestha 4
Sahid - martyr
Ghaite - the injured of the movement
When is Loktantra Diwas celebrated in Nepal?
On Baishakh 11 every year. In the Gregorian calendar, this falls on 24 April in most years and on 23 April in years when Baishakh begins on 13 April. In 2083 BS, it falls on 24 April 2026.
What does Loktantra Diwas commemorate?
The royal proclamation of the night of Baishakh 11, 2063 BS, when King Gyanendra ended his direct rule and reinstated the House of Representatives, bringing the 19-day second people's movement to an end.
Is Loktantra Diwas a public holiday?
No. It was removed from the public holiday list in 2075 BS when the government cut the number of holidays from 104 to 89. It is still observed as a national day, but offices, banks and schools stay open.
How long did Jana Andolan II last?
Nineteen days, from Chaitra 24, 2062 to Baishakh 11, 2063, which is 6 to 24 April 2006.
How many people died in the 2006 people's movement?
Figures vary by source. The counts used most often in Nepal put the dead at around 21 to 25, with several thousand injured, many with permanent disability.
Did Nepal become a republic on Loktantra Diwas?
No. Nepal was still a kingdom on Baishakh 11, 2063. The monarchy was abolished two years later, on Jestha 15, 2065, which is Ganatantra Diwas.
What is the difference between Loktantra Diwas and Prajatantra Diwas?
Prajatantra Diwas on Falgun 7 marks the fall of the Rana regime in 2007 BS. Loktantra Diwas on Baishakh 11 marks the end of King Gyanendra's direct rule in 2063 BS. They are separate events 56 years apart, and Prajatantra Diwas is a public holiday while Loktantra Diwas is not.
Why did Nepal start using the word loktantra instead of prajatantra?
Because prajatantra is built on praja, meaning subjects of a ruler. Loktantra is built on lok, meaning the people. The change of word during Jana Andolan II was a deliberate signal that the movement wanted the people, not a monarch, at the centre of the system.
Who led Jana Andolan II?
The Seven Party Alliance led the street movement, with Girija Prasad Koirala as its most prominent figure, working under the 12-point understanding with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Professional associations and civil society organisations joined from the second week and were central to the movement's scale.
What did the king announce on 21 April 2006, and why was it rejected?
He announced that executive power was being returned to the people and invited the Seven Party Alliance to nominate a Prime Minister. The alliance rejected it because it did not reinstate parliament and left the king's position untouched.
What happened after parliament was reinstated?
The House met on 28 April 2006 and issued a proclamation on Jestha 4, 2063 that took the army out of royal command, ended the king's immunity and tax privileges, scrapped the Raj Parishad and declared Nepal a secular state. The peace accord with the Maoists followed in Mangsir 2063.
How many Loktantra Diwas have been observed so far?
2082 BS marked the 20th Loktantra Diwas, counting 2063 BS as the first.
How do you wish someone on Loktantra Diwas?
Common greetings are लोकतन्त्र दिवसको हार्दिक शुभकामना and लोकतन्त्र दिवसको उपलक्ष्यमा हार्दिक शुभकामना.