New Delhi

Hours before the scheduled swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, Narendra Modi, India's prime minister-in-waiting and National Democratic Alliance leader in the Lok Sabha, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, the slain national icon's resting place in the capital. Modi also paid tributes to the Bharatiya Janata Party's founding father and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial 'Sadaiv Atal', located less than two km away from Rajghat. 

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Modi was accompanied by the outgoing union minister Hardeep Singh Puri. 

President Droupadi Murmu had handed over the prime minister-designate his third letter of appointment after the BJP chief JP Nadda presented letters of support from NDA parties, who have a strength of 293 in the newly elected 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament. 

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Modi, along with about 30 members of his council of ministers or cabinet, is scheduled to take oath of secrecy at Rashtrapati Bhawan later on June 9 at about 7:15 PM (Indian Standard Time).

The oath-taking ceremony is a grand event in the national capital where personalities from different walks of life and overseas leaders have been invited.

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India has invited the heads of state and government from Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Seychelles for the swearing-in. The spotlight will be on Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, who rose to power on an anti-India plank and persisted with that rhetoric until a few weeks ago.

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The BJP won 240 seats and Congress 99, as per the final results published by the Election Commission of India.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance has 293 members in Lok Sabha while the Opposition's 'INDIA' bloc has 233 members.

(With inputs from agencies)