New Delhi: Narendra Modi will be sworn-in as the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term today (June 9), after the NDA scored a majority in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

The mega event will begin at 7.15 pm at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Forecourt in the national capital. The official time of the swearing-in ceremony is 7.15 pm to 8 pm.  Over 8,000 guests, including various professionals and cultural performers, will attend the ceremony. The guest list has been kept compact, given the ensuing G7 meeting in Italy, for which Modi will leave later in the week.

President Droupadi Murmu will host a banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Coalition compulsions will shape the makeup of the Modi 3.0 Cabinet, with very few Ministers holding more than one portfolio, sources said.

While the entire Council of Ministers will not be sworn-in, nearly over 30 Ministers will.

Taking oath after PM Modi will be the top Ministers including those who will hold the crucial portfolios of home, defence, finance and external affairs — all of which will continue to be held by the BJP.

Others who are likely to be sworn in will include those who will be entrusted with critical infrastructure Ministries like steel, civil aviation and coal.

The Ministry of External Affairs portfolio has been given to S. Jaishankar for a second term. The confirmation comes even as all MPs who are most likely to be part of the Council of Ministers arrived at the PM’s residence in New Delhi for a customary tea programme at noon today.

Those who have received the invite so far are Karnataka JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister  H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP leader Pralhad Joshi, JD(U)’s Ramnath Thakur, TDP MPs Ram Mohan Naidu and Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi,  Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Tamil Nadu BJP leader K. Annamalai, Dharmendra Pradhan, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Kiren Rijiju, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan among others.

Floral tributes

Earlier today, Narendra Modi visited Rajghat and paid floral tributes to the Father of the Nation. Later, Modi paid tributes to former Prime Minister and BJP stalwart late Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial ‘Sadaiv Atal.’ He also greeted the supporters and people gathered there as he walked towards these monuments.

Later, he arrived at the National War Memorial accompanied by former Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, CDS Gen Anil Chauhan, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi and VCAS Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh and laid a wreath.