Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi is taking oath as Prime Minister for the third time in a row today, equalizing Jawaharlal Nehru's record.
As many as 40 ministers along with Modi are taking oath at a ceremony to be organized at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 7:15 pm.
In the recently concluded 18th Lok Sabha elections, Modi became the Prime Minister of India for the third consecutive term after his party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition NDA won a majority of 292 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
This time BJP alone won only 240 seats.
In the previous elections, Modi-led BJP had garnered a majority of seats.
After taking oath today, he will equalize the record of Jawaharlal Nehru who became the prime minister three times in Indian history. Nehru had become the Prime Minister consecutively in 1952, 1957 and 1962.
According to Indian media, Modi is scheduled to take oath as Prime Minister today at 7:15 pm for his third term.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Along with Modi, 40 MPs will take oath as ministers including 14 from the NDA alliance, two each from TDP and JDU, and one from Shiv Sena.
In addition to Nepal, the heads of state and government of seven countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Bhutan will participate. However, the heads of state of China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will not participate.
Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time in 2014. At that time there were 46 ministers in his cabinet. Out of which 24 were cabinet ministers, 10 independent ministers of state, and 12 were ministers of state.
After this, Modi became the prime minister in 2019. At that time, 58 ministers took oath along with Modi. Following the expansion of the cabinet in both terms, the number of ministers reached 71 and 72, respectively.
According to Article 75 of the Constitution of India, the number of ministers in the Council of Ministers should not exceed 81 percent of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha (543).
