Narendra Modi thanks his supporters
India's re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term as head of government by agreeing to a coalition.
By agreeing to the coalition, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term as head of government. On Friday, Modi handed over a letter of support to President Droupadi Murmu of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), whose vote gave him a majority in parliament. Murmu then tasked Modi with forming a government.
Modi had earlier addressed nearly 300 members of his coalition in the Indian Parliament and thanked them for their unanimous support for his government. The meeting was seen as a formality and a demonstrative signal of unity after leaders of the 15-party NDA alliance had pledged their support to Modi two days ago.
Modi's Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, has lost its absolute majority in parliamentary elections for the first time in ten years and is therefore at the mercy of coalition partners. Experts see unemployment as the main reason for the BJP's poor performance.
India's six-week general election ended on Saturday. More than 968 million people were called to vote. Modi's BJP won 240 parliamentary seats, leaving it 32 short of an absolute majority. In the 2019 election, he won 303 seats. The main opposition party, the Congress Party, received almost double the vote compared to the election five years ago and won 99 seats.
HOME PAGE
