NEW DELHI, May 20: BJP and its allies may have a combined haul of 336 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha but President Pranab Mukherjee appears to have taken note of only the number of BJP MPs in appointing Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.
After a delegation of 15 members of NDA, led by BJP president Rajnath Singh, called on the President and handed over a letter stating that Modi has been elected as Leader of BJP Parliamentary Party. The BJP on its own has 282 members, 10 more than the half-way mark.
This was followed by a call on the President by Modi.
“Shri Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, called on the President at 1515 hours today. As Shri Narendra Modi has been elected as BJP Parliamentary Party and BJP has the majority in the House of the people, the President appointed Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India and requested him to advise the names of others to be appointed members of the Council of Ministers,” a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said later.
In his appointment letter, the President noted that he had received a communication from Rajnath Singh today informing him of Modi’s unanimous election as Leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, which has emerged as the majority party in the elections.
“Please accept my congratulations. I, therefore, have the pleasure to appoint you as the Prime Minister of India in exercise of the powers vested in me under Article 75 Clause I of the Constitution of India. I request you to advise me the names of others to be appointed members of the Council of Ministers,” Mukherjee’s letter said. (PTI)
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