NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the Prime Minister of India for a third term in a grand ceremony held at the Rashrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday evening. As many as 72 ministers of his new cabinet were also sworn in on the occasion.
Thousands of guests attended the ceremony, which saw the attendance of the heads of neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
The decisions on the new cabinet were taken after a marathon 11-hour meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence yesterday.
Modi’s BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the general election with 293 seats, which is less than the previous two terms. A council of ministers from the new cabinet was also sworn in during the ceremony.
Modi is only the second Indian leader to win a third consecutive term after the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Though the exit polls had projected an outright victory for the BJP, which ruled India for a decade, it failed to get a majority in the Lok Sabha elections. Hence, it relied on two key allies—the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Chandrababu Naidu and the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar to cross the 272-seat mark needed to form the government.
On Friday, the elected MPs selected Modi as the leader of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the parliament), leader of the BJP parliamentary party, and leader of the NDA.
Tight security has been put in place at Rashtrapati Bhawan, where he will be administered the oath of office by President Droupadi Murmu. Officials said commandos from Delhi Police’s SWAT and NSG have been deployed around the venue and other strategic locations as Delhi remains on high alert for the event.
A three-layered security system was in place at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Delhi, which was under the security blanket, has been declared a no-fly zone, banning the use of aerial platforms like drones, paragliders, remotely piloted aircraft, and hot air balloons for the next couple of days.
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