Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi as the prime minister, reported The Times of India on Thursday.

The ceremony is expected to take place on June 8, according to reports.

In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP failed to get a majority as its tally stood at 240 seats. The final tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was 292.

The National Democratic Alliance will be able to form the government at the Centre as a party or alliance requires 272 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament to stake claim.

The Congress won 99 seats, significantly improving its 2019 tally of 52 seats. The Opposition INDIA bloc collectively won 232 seats.

Hasina had earlier congratulated Modi for his alliance’s performance. “As the leader of the largest democracy in the world, you carry the hopes and aspirations of the people of India,” Hasina’s political party quoted her as saying on Wednesday.

Modi invited Wickremesinghe during a telephone call made by the latter to congratulate the Indian prime minister, according to The Times of India. The Sri Lankan president accepted the invitation.

India is also likely to invite Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Pravind Jugnauth, the prime minister of Mauritius, for the swearing-in, reported PTI.

For his oath-taking ceremony in 2014, Modi had invited leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations. The member countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in addition to India.

In 2019, leaders of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation members were invited. The organisation comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.

Also read: