After winning 303 seats out of the total 542 seats, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set for the oath-taking ceremony scheduled for May 30. The swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers will be attended by over 6,000 guests. According to reports, this is the first time when Rashtrapati Bhavan will host such a huge crowd for a single event. The event will be held in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, meaning Prime Ministers will be sworn in with the grand Rashtrapati Bhavan edifice as a backdrop.
The forecourt is the path between the main gates and main building usually used for the ceremonial reception of visiting heads of state. The Durbar Hall at the Rashtrapati Bhavan is usually the venue for the swearing-in ceremony but since it cannot accommodate more than 500 people the venue has been changed. The Durbar Hall is also the venue where Jawaharlal Nehru was sworn-in for his first term. Till date, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998) and Chandrashekhar (1990) are the only Prime Ministers, apart from Narendra Modi, who was sworn-in at the forecourt. This is the fourth time when a prime minister would take oath at the forecourt. PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in 2014 which was attended by nearly 4,000 guests was also hosted at the forecourt.
