Nepali Constitution Day in 2024

When is Nepali Constitution Day?

Nepali Constitution Day is a public holiday in Nepal observed on September 20th each year.

This is treated as the National Day of Nepal and celebrates the adoption of the current Constitution on this day in 2015. In most countries, National Day takes place on their Independence Day. Through all its history of border expansion and contraction, Nepal has never been colonized and ruled by foreigners, which means Nepal doesn't celebrate an Independence Day.

History of Nepali Constitution Day

This holiday was first observed in 2016 on the first anniversary of the promulgation of the new Constitution.

Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on September 20th 2015, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. 

This was the first full-fledged constitution to be drafted by democratically elected representatives after the South Asian country became a federal democratic republic in 2008 following the overthrow of the 240-year monarchy. The process to enact a new Constitution has been a drawn-out one, with several efforts to produce a new Constitution drafted since 2008.

The 2015 Constitution restructured Nepal into a federal republic, dividing the nation into seven provinces, some of which are still named by their temporary numbers.

It also completed the transition of Nepal from constitutional monarchy to republicanism and from a unitary system to federalism.

In 2019, at the Army parade ground, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said that the day should create a feeling of celebration among all Nepalis. 

“We Nepalis were starving for this day for the past seven decades. The day when we were liberated from suppression is also an independence day and a day to celebrate our achievements,” Oli said.

As a new holiday with no historical traditions, the government has been pushing this as a holiday with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration having to issue notifications urging all district coordination committees and local levels to celebrate the upcoming Constitution Day with "pomp and grandeur".

Did you Know?

The official title of the national anthem of Nepal translates as ‘Made of Hundreds of Flowers’.