Narendra Modi has longest tenure as head of elected government among all PMs

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi has not only become the longest-serving non-Congress Prime Minister of India but he also has the longest tenure as head of an elected government, which includes his term of more than 12 years as Gujarat chief minister, among all PMs.

Narendra Modi has become the longest-serving head of elected government among all PMs in India when he completed 6,878 days in office — 4,607 days as chief minister of Gujarat and 2,271 days as PM of India- on Thursday.


On Thursday, Modi also became the fourth-longest serving Prime Minister of India surpassing Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The feat also made Modi the country's longest-serving non-Congress Prime Minister.

Until now, Narendra Modi has been the head of elected governments for 18 years and 306 days (6,878 days).

Modi served 12 years and 227 days (4,607) as the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.

Modi was elected as the 14th PM of India in 2014 and since then he has been in office for 6 years and 79 days (2,271 days).

Modi is followed by Jawaharlal Nehru who took oath as the first Prime Minister of India on August 15, 1947. He remained in office for 16 years and 286 days (6,130 days).

With no chief minister's post to his name, Nehru remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of India.

Indira Gandhi became the 3rd Prime Minister of India on January 14, 1980, and was the second-longest serving PM of India. She remained in office for 15 years, 350 days (5,829 days), until her assassination.

Though there have been several chief ministers, including Jyoti Basu of West Bengal and Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim, who have served for a longer period as head of an elected government than Modi but they were never prime minister.

Narendra Modi, with 4,606 days as Gujarat's CM, was at the 30th position in the list of longest-serving chief ministers of India.