PM Modi tenders resignation to President Murmu
Before tendering his resignation, the prime minister had chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet, recommending the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha, the term for which ends on 16 June.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his Council of Ministers, submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.
Before tendering his resignation, the prime minister chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet, which recommended the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha, whose term ends on 16 June.
According to people familiar with the development, the Cabinet meeting also took stock of the Lok Sabha election results and discussed likely government formation.
As per election results on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw its seat count dip to 240—a loss of 63 seats from the 303 it won five years earlier. While the ruling party is far from a simple majority of 272 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the halfway mark with 293 seats, securing a clear third term.
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The opposition INDIA alliance managed 233 seats, led by the Indian National Congress, which nearly doubled its Parliament strength to 99 seats.
In the 2019 election, the NDA had won 353 seats, while the main opposition, the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance, had secured a modest 91 seats.
Rating agency Moody’s on Wednesday said the victory of the NDA in the recently concluded Indian general election would result in policy continuity. However, the ‘slim’ margin of victory and loss of an outright majority in Parliament, it said, could delay more far-reaching economic and fiscal reforms, potentially impeding progress on fiscal consolidation.
