Narendra Modi overtakes Indira Gandhi, now India’s second-longest serving PM in consecutive terms

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday became India’s second-longest serving prime minister in consecutive terms, completing 4,078 uninterrupted days in office. 

This surpasses Indira Gandhi’s continuous tenure of 4,077 days from January 24, 1966, to March 24, 1977.

Modi, 74, the first prime minister born in Independent India, assumed office on May 26, 2014, and began his third consecutive term in June 2024. He is also the longest-serving prime minister from a non-Congress party.

Jawaharlal Nehru remains India’s longest-serving prime minister, having led the country from August 15, 1947, to May 27, 1964—a tenure lasting 16 years and 286 days.

Before becoming prime minister, Modi served as Gujarat’s chief minister from 2001 to 2014, the state’s longest tenure in that role. At the national level, he led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to three successive Lok Sabha victories. The BJP won 272 seats in 2014, 303 seats in 2019, and emerged as the single largest party in 2024, forming the government with support from its NDA allies.

Modi is the first non-Congress leader to complete at least two full terms as prime minister and the only one to be re-elected three times with a majority at least once. He is also the first sitting prime minister since Indira Gandhi in 1971 to be re-elected with a clear mandate and only the second leader after Nehru to win three consecutive national elections as the head of a party.