INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi was formally elected today as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition, which won the most number of seats in the country’s national election after his political party failed to win a majority on its own.

The 73-year-old leader, who will be sworn in as prime minister tomorrow for a rare third term, will now form a coalition government.

Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has governed India as part of the NDA coalition over the past decade, but this is the first time under his leadership that the party has needed support from its regional allies to form a government.