Narendra Modi, who powered the Bharatiya Janata Party to a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, was on Saturday unanimously elected the leader of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance parliamentary party, paving the way for his installation as the Prime Minister for a second successive term. Modi was elected as the NDA leader at a joint meeting of the newly-elected lawmakers and senior leaders in Parliament's Central Hall.
Earlier, Modi was elected the leader of the BJP parliamentary party where party President Amit Shah proposed Modi's name and former party presidents Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari seconded the proposal. Modi's election was a mere formality as the NDA had already declared him the alliance's Prime Ministerial candidate.
Modi will later call on President Ram Nath Kovind to stake his claim to form the new government, following which he will be sworn in as the next Prime Minister likely next week. "Modi is elected the leader of the parliamentary party of 353 MPs unanimously," BJP president Amit Shah announced after the election as Modi acknowledged the support and cheers from the lawmakers.
Top alliance leaders, including Janata Dal(U)'s Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray and Akali Dal's Parkash Singh Badal, extended their party's support after Modi was elected as the leader of the BJP parliamentary party at first. Senior BJP leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were also present on the dais with other alliance leaders. Modi has led the NDA to a landslide win in the general election, with the BJP winning 303 seats, its highest ever, and its allies 50.
