Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sunday, becoming only the second after Jawaharlal Nehru to secure a third consecutive term.

The 72-member Union Council of Ministers which was administered the oath of office by President Droupadi Murmu included 30 Cabinet Ministers and 5 Ministers of State (independent charge).The Cabinet will hold its first meeting at 5 pm Monday and portfolios are expected to be announced before that.

New entrants in the Cabinet included J P Nadda, whose term as BJP president ends this month, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil.Annapurna Devi, who was a Minister of State in Modi’s previous term, found a Cabinet berth. Jual Oram, who was a minister in Modi’s first term, was inducted as a Cabinet Minister.

There are a total of 38 new faces – 11 in the Cabinet, 2 Ministers of State (independent charge) and 25 Ministers of State. The strength of the last Cabinet was 26. There were three Ministers of State with independent charge and 42 Ministers of State.There are 7 women in the new Council of Ministers, two of them – Nirmala Sitharaman and Annapurna Devi – in the Cabinet. And, five are MoS: Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya.In attendance were an estimated 10,000 dignitaries – this was the largest such event in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan – including leaders of seven countries from the neighbourhood: Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe; Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu; Seychelles Vice-President Ahmed Afif; Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina; Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth; Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’; and, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.