Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sworn in for a third term. Modi took oath as Prime Minister during a special ceremony at the President's office on Sunday. President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and his cabinet members.

Modi became the second leader in India to win the election and become the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term. Earlier, this record was only held by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Earlier, Modi was the Prime Minister for 10 consecutive years after winning the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had single-handedly won a clear majority in the previous two elections. 

In this election, the BJP got 32 seats less than the majority. However, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP won the majority of seats and thus Modi became the Prime Minister. 

India's 543-member Lok Sabha requires 272 seats for a majority. The BJP-led NDA has won 293 seats. The support of 16 seats of Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and 12 seats of Bihar's regional party Janata Dal United (JDU) was decisive in making Modi the Prime Minister. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar have supported Modi after the election results.

In the Modi cabinet formed on Sunday, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal are prominent faces. BJP president Nadda and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Chauhan are new members of Modi's third cabinet. Nadda is a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh. 

Chauhan, who is known as Modi's confidant, gave the BJP 100 percent results in the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. BJP has 'clean swept' all 25 seats of the state. Even in the state elections held a few months ago, the BJP won there under the leadership of Chauhan. Chauhan, who is considered successful in state politics, has been given a place in the 30-member cabinet by Modi. 

Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitanram Majhi, Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan), Sarbanand Sonowal, Dr. Virender Kumar, Ram Manohar Naidu, Prahlad Joshi, Joel Urao, Giriraj Singh have got ministerial posts. Similarly, Ashwini Vaishnav, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupendra Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annapurna Devi, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kisan Reddy, Chirag Paswan and CR Patil have become ministers. Apart from that, 5 people have been given the responsibility of minister of independent charge and 36 people have been given the responsibility of minister of state. A total of 72 people have taken the oath. The swearing-in ceremony started at 7:30 PM and lasted till 10:00 PM. Modi has repeated the chief ministers of the previous term. Their ministry is not specified. However, except Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, most of them are likely to repeat their ministry. It is said that Piyush Goyal will come to Artha. 

Modi has continued the tradition of inviting foreign heads of state/government in his third swearing-in ceremony as well. Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives' President Mohammad Muijju, Bhutan's Prime Minister Chiring Tobge, Mauritius' Prime Minister Pravinda Kumar Jagannath and Seychelles' Vice President Ahmed Afif participated in the swearing-in ceremony.

Earlier in 2014 the heads of SAARC countries and 2019 BIMSTEC countries were invited. The then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli participated in the first swearing-in ceremony of Modi from Nepal. Apart from the heads of 7 countries, Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Rajinikanth and other famous film stars of India were also present at the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday. Industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani also participated.

Dahal congratulated

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dahal congratulated Modi in a brief courtesy call at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday. Surendra Thapa, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Nepali Embassy in Delhi, said that along with the greetings, there was a discussion on matters of bilateral interest. During the meeting, Prime Minister Dahal also invited his counterpart Modi to visit Nepal at a convenient time, according to a statement issued by the embassy in Delhi. The Nepalese team led by the Prime Minister participated in the dinner hosted by President Draupadi Murmu.