Daily Times

Narendra Modi was sworn in Sunday for a rare third consecutive term as India´s prime minister, relying on his coalition partners after his party failed to win a parliamentary majority in a surprise outcome. Modi and his Cabinet ministers took the oath of office, administered by President Droupadi Murmu, at India´s presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The 73-year-old polarizing leader is only the second Indian prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to retain power for a third five-year term. His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which won by landslides in 2014 and 2019, failed to secure a majority to govern on its own in the latest national election. However, Modi’s National Democratic Alliance coalition won enough seats to form a government, with him at the helm. This is the first time the BJP under Modi has needed support from its regional allies to form a government after a decade of commanding the majority in Parliament. Final election results released Wednesday showed Modi´s BJP won 240 seats, well below the 272 needed for a majority. Together, the parties in the NDA coalition secured 293 seats in the 543-member lower house of Parliament.