Preparations are underway on the lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi in the evening, in New Delhi, India, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
NEW DELHI (AP) – 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 took the oath of office, administered by President Droupadi Murmu, at India’s presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The 73-year-old popular but 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.
