Efforts to form a new government at the Centre has gained momentum. BJP parliamentary party will meet in New Delhi today to formally elect Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its leader.

After this, Mr Modi will be elected leader of the newly elected NDA MPs in a meeting at the Central Hall of

Parliament in the evening. Prime Minister is also expected to address the gathering.

Mr Modi yesterday called on President Ram Nath Kovind and tendered his resignation along with his council of ministers. The President accepted the resignation and asked Prime Minister and his council of ministers to continue till a new government is formed.

President Ram Nath Kovind hosted a dinner for the members of outgoing Council of Ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan last night. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari were present on the occasion.

Earlier yesterday, Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister recommended the dissolution of 16th Lok Sabha. After the meeting, Mr Modi also participated in a meeting of the council of ministers, which expressed its gratitude to the Prime Minister. Mr Modi also appreciated the role of his colleagues and their contribution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah met party veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, a day after BJP led NDA secured a landslide victory in Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister visited Mr Advani’s residence and sought his blessings.

In a tweet, Mr Modi said the BJP’s successes today are possible because greats like Mr Advani and Mr Joshi spent decades building the party and providing a fresh ideological narrative to the people. Mr. Joshi also congratulated Mr Modi on his victory.

Formation of the new government will kick off after the election commission notification which will have the names of newly elected Lok Sabha MPs.

Once the notification gets President Ram Nath Kovind’s approval, the process of constitution of 17th Lok Sabha will formally begin. Election Commission is likely to meet today to finalise the list of winning candidates to be handed over to the President.

The EC sources said once the list is finalised, the three commissioners will seek an appointment with the president. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

Polls were held in 542 of the 543 seats and the election in Vellore parliamentary seat was cancelled by the Election commission citing excessive use of money power. BJP has won 303 seats surpassing its previous record of 282 in 2014. The BJP-led NDA has secured 351 seats as against their previous tally of 336.

The UPA got 90 seats. This is the first time that a non-Congress party will take over at the Centre for the second term consecutively.