Highlights: President Kovind asks Modi to decide council of ministers, date of swearing-in ceremony

Background

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 23, led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a super-sized victory for a second term in office, as his message of nationalism, security, Hindu pride and a New India was wholeheartedly embraced by voters across large swathes of the country.

The BJP got an absolute majority bagging 290 of the 511 seats, results of which were declared this morning and was on course to touch the 300-seat mark in the 542-member Lok Sabha. Leading in another 13 seats, the BJP has already surpassed its 2014 performance when it won 282 seats.

With the elections establishing the 68-year-old Modi as the most popular leader in decades, the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) are poised to clinch around 350 seats as against their previous 336.

Such was the force of the BJP wave that even Congress President Rahul Gandhi lost in his bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Smriti Irani, but in consolation prize won the Wayanad seat in Kerala. Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda also bit the dust when he lost the Tumkur seat in Karnataka where the BJP bagged 25 of the 28 seats.

After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Modi is the third prime minister of the country and the first non-Congress one -- who has been able to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha. The victory margin left the combined opposition in the dust, with the Congress Party topping the group winning or leading in 52 seats, according to the partial results.

21:35 PM (IST)  •  25 May 2019

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to decide the council of ministers and the date of his swearing-in ceremony. The president also appointed Modi to the office of Prime Minister of India, a communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. Kovind requested Modi to advise him about the names of others to be appointed members of the Union Council of Ministers; and indicate the date and time of the swearing-in ceremony to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it said. Modi was formally intimated when he called on the president at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening in his capacity as the leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, which has majority support in the House of the People following the general election to the 17th Lok Sabha, the communique said.

21:09 PM (IST)  •  25 May 2019

An NDA delegation handed over to the President a letter stating that Narendra Modi had been elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party. Letters of support from NDA constituent parties were also handed over to the President.

19:19 PM (IST)  •  25 May 2019

I have asked NDA leaders to maintain restraint in speaking to media, some statements made for publicity often trouble us: Narendra Modi

19:05 PM (IST)  •  25 May 2019

I'm talking to you after bowing before the constitution, there can not be a 'bhed-rekha' for a people's representative. We are for those who were with us, we are also for those who will be with us: Narendra Modi

19:05 PM (IST)  •  25 May 2019

This is for the first time in Independent India that such large number of women MPs are sitting in the Parliament. This has been made possible due to women power: Narendra Modi