Modi's swearing-in could be on June 9 instead of 8; Hasina, Wickremesinghe to attend the ceremony

Instead of June 8, the oath-taking ceremony can be held at 6 pm on Sunday as the final schedule is being worked out, said reports.

According to India TV, there is a possibility of holding the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Sunday morning too.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be among the foreign leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Modi as the Prime Minister is set for a historic third consecutive term equalling the record of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The premiers of Bhutan, Nepal and Mauritius are also likely to be invited for the swearing-in ceremony.

Over 95 world leaders including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Russian President Vladimir Putin have congratulated Modi for being elected.

Modi 3.0 with a weaker mandate and strings

Narendra Modi on Tuesday returned for a rare third consecutive term in office with his allies, but fell short of an absolute majority for his BJP, in an election that gave a new lease of life to a Congress-led disparate Opposition bloc- INDIA-  as the anti-Modi union halted the saffron juggernaut to under 300.

Modi, who is set to be the second Prime Minister after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to return to office for third consecutive term, had kickstarted the campaign for his BJP setting the target for 370 seats and 400 for the NDA alliance.

Quite contrary to the "Abki bar 400 par" or "400 plus seats this time" slogan, Modi's BJP failed to achieve the majority mark (272) on its own, paving way for a return of a coalition government trend after a decade.

In what would trigger the debate of anti-incumbency setting in, Modi's BJP could manage to get to 240 while NDA touched 293, a comfortable figure to run the government but at the mercy of regional parties like TDP and JD-U.

As a slew of exit polls that gave a clear majority to Modi proved wrong, even in the win of the NDA, the celebrations are louder in the  INDIA Bloc after they bagged a higher than expected number of seats. The INDIA bloc has won 234 seats, offering a tough fight to the incumbent.

Though several political pundits, opinion and exit polls had almost written off the Opposition, Congress (99 seats) led INDIA comprising several key regional players in offering a close contest to the incumbent.

After BJP stopped at 240 odd seats, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar emerged as the key players in forming the next government, which is expected to be headed by Modi again considering his number.