New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take oath for a third time on Saturday, and in so doing, become the first (and only) three-term leader of the country since Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru. Mr Modi met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi to submit his resignation, and that of his cabinet. He was then requested to continue in his role till the swearing-in.

The President accepted the resignation and requested PM Narendra Modi and the Council of Ministers to continue till the new Government assumes office.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party – which claimed 282 seats in 2014 and 303 in the 2019 election won 240 seats this time – 32 short of the 272-majority mark. It will now rely on the 53 seats won by members of the party-led National Democratic Alliance to seal a third term.

Mr Modi retained his Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, defeating the Congress’ Ajay Rai by less than 1.5 lakh votes to become a three-time MP from the temple town.

Earlier today Mr Modi – who last evening confirmed the NDA would stake claim to form the government for a third time, calling the poll results a “victory of the world’s largest democracy” – chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet for the final time in this government.

The BJP had set itself an ambitious target of 370 seats (400+ including NDA partners), but they were pegged back by the opposition alliance – the Congress-led INDIA bloc. The opposition has 232 seats after a stellar performance that saw it defy exit pollsters and slash the BJP’s advantage in key states.

The BJP, though, had enough in its tank to finish as the single-largest party yet again, thanks to good results from Odisha (20 of 21 seats), Andhra Pradesh (21 of 25), Madhya Pradesh (29 of 29), and Bihar (30 of 40), to offset the losses there and in other states.

Significantly, the BJP also made a breakthrough in Kerala to win its first ever Lok Sabha seat in the southern state. The BJP has historically struggled in the south, but the Kerala and Andhra results, as well as doubling its Telangana tally to eight, suggest a change. The party did, however, finish with zero seats in Tamil Nadu for a second consecutive election. The ruling DMK and INDIA bloc allies won all 39 seats.

Meanwhile, the opposition INDIA bloc will also meet on June 5 with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling alliance leaders for the meet at his house. Having witnessed a favourable outcome in the Lok Sabha elections, the leaders of the INDIA bloc will strategize their next move.