Modi set to surpass Indira Gandhi to be PM with second-longest unbroken stint

New Delhi: Narendra Modi is set to surpass Indira Gandhi on Friday to become the second-longest serving Prime Minister of India in consecutive terms.

Modi, officials noted, will complete 4,078 days in office on Friday. Gandhi was in the office in an unbroken stint for 4,077 days, from January 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977.

The record for the unbroken stint is held by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Modi has matched Nehru in leading their respective parties to victory in three consecutive Lok Sabha elections.

As an elected head of a government, in state and at the Centre, Modi already enjoys the longest stint.

He became Gujarat Chief Minister in 2001 and remained in the office before taking over as prime minister in 2014.

Modi, the first Prime Minister born after Independence, is also the longest-serving non-Congress PM. The officials noted that the Gujarat-born leader is also the only non-Congress leader to complete two full terms as the head of the central government.

“Modi is the only leader in India, among all PMs and CMs, to win six consecutive elections as the leader of a party -- in Gujarat assembly polls in 2002, 2007 and 2012, and in the national elections in 2014, 2019, and 2024,” an official said.