NEW DELHI : The newly elected MPs of the BJP-led National on Friday elected Narendra Modi as their leader, paving the way for him to take oath as prime minister for a third term.

Prior to the meeting’s commencement at the Parliament complex, senior BJP leader Pralhad Joshi confirmed that Modi will take oath on Sunday. The ceremony will take place at 6 pm on June 9, Joshi told the NDA leaders assembled here at the Central Hall of the old Parliament Building to elect the two-time PM as their leader.

Besides NDA MPs, senior leaders of the alliance, including chief ministers, attended the meeting to endorse the resolution, introduced by BJP president JP Nadda, proposing Modi as the head of the alliance.

After electing Modi, senior members of the alliance including TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar, and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde will join the prime minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him.

Ahead of the meeting, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that the NDA coalition will comfortably complete its five-year term at the Centre. “The government (NDA) will complete its 5-year term. We have around 300 seats so 100 percent we will complete our 5-year term. Everything is going to be fine,” Pawar said.

The NDA has 293 MPs, comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda, have also been holding deliberations with allies to work out an amicable formula for their share of representation in the new government, which will critically depend on them for survival.

The BJP leadership has moved swiftly since the June 4 results for government formation to end any sense of uncertainty after the verdict, which was a setback to the ruling party as it lost majority for the first time since 2014 and needs allies’ support to maintain its hold on power.