PM-elect Narendra Modi to take oath of office at 7 pm today: Decked up forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan to host BIMSTEC Heads of State

President of India Ram Nath Kovind will administer the “oath of office and secrecy” to Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi and other members of the new Union Council of Ministers, on Thursday at 7 pm at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The general invitees are requested to be present at the venue at 5.30 pm and the dress code for the event is formal/ceremonial. [caption id=“attachment_6724901” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt. Reuters[/caption] The guests are expected to start arriving around 5 pm. The Council of Ministers is expected to arrive around 6.30 pm. After which the Prime Minister-elect Modi will arrive followed by President Kovind and the swearing-in ceremony will be initiated. By that time foreign dignitaries that include several heads of state including that of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) will be received by the senior officials of Rashtrapati Bhavan and made to sit at their reserved seats. Likely sequence of arrival of the heads of state is –  Thailand, Bhutan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They are expected to arrive around 6.45 pm. Also, by this time other dignitaries that include leaders of national and state political parties, senior bureaucrats and other invitees will take their seat. After the arrival of President, firstly, the national anthem will be played. Then the cabinet secretary will invite the President to administer the “oath of office and secrecy” first to the Prime Minister-elect and then to other members of the new Union Council of Ministers. After President finishes administering the oath to Prime Minister and other Council of Ministers, the newly appointed Prime Minister along with his Cabinet will move inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the photo op. After this, around 9-10 pm special dinner called ‘Dal Raisina’ will be served to around 40 dignitaries that will include the eight heads of state, President, Vice President, and Prime Minister. The oath ceremony will take place in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan and not in Durbar Hall. As reported by the Indian Express it will be only fourth time that a Prime Minister will take oath in the forecourt. “The only two other Prime Ministers, who have been sworn-in with the grand Rashtrapati Bhavan edifice as a backdrop, are AB Vajpayee and Chandrashekhar,” reports Indian Express. In 2014 as well when Modi won his first term, the oath ceremony was held at the forecourt. Modi took the oath along with 24 Cabinet and 21 Ministers of State. Follow LIVE updates on Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony here Around 5,000 dignitaries, including the heads of SAARC countries (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutanese, Maldives) were present at the event. Several celebrities from art and culture, especially the Hindi film industry along with corporate, media and sports bigwigs were also part of the oath ceremony. A similar crowd from the film industry, corporate and media are expected to be present at the event this time as well.