Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi on Sunday, June 9, took oath as the Prime Minister of India, for the third straight time. The oath was administered by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. PM Modi has become only the second leader to be sworn in for three consecutive terms after former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who won in 1952, 1957 and 1962 general elections.
The new Modi government will consist of 72 ministers, including 30 cabinet ministers, 5 Ministers of State with Independent Charges and 36 Ministers of State.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by over 8,000 guests including national and international leaders. The foreign dignitaries list included President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Sadaiv Atal. He then went to the National War Memorial and laid a wreath there. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accompanied PM Modi at the War Memorial.
Contrary to the projections laid down by the exit polls, BJP failed to get the tag of the single largest party after it was reduced to just 240 seats. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had to settle for a total of 293 seats, with N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) getting 16 and 12 crucial seats respectively. The opposition, united under the INDIA bloc, increased their strength in Parliament to 234.