Narendra Modi was sworn in as the country's 15th Prime minister on Monday evening. He heads a team of 45 ministers, one of the smallest since Independence.
10 facts about the new council of ministers
Uttar Pradesh, which sent 71 BJP members to the Lok Sabha, has the largest representation in the Union Council of Ministers - nine. The UP list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been elected from Varanasi. Maharashtra has six ministers; it sent 42 MPs belonging to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine to the Lok Sabha. (This is Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers)
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Kerala and the soon-to-be-created Telangana have no ministers in Team Modi. The BJP drew a blank in Kerala, won two seat in Bengal, but swept Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. (Pics: Team Modi - The New Cabinet)
There are two ministers from north-eastern states, both BJP leaders - Sarbananda Sonowal, who has been elected from Lakhimpur in Assam, and Kiren Rijiju, who won from Arunachal West. The BJP has won 8 seats in the north East, its best performance yet.
Smriti Irani, at 38, is the youngest Cabinet minister. The Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat faced off with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and gave him a tough fight. She will be Human Resources Development minister.
At 73, Najma Heptulla is the oldest Cabinet minister. She is a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra and was in the Congress for many years before joining the BJP. Najma Heptulla is also the only Muslim minister in Team Modi.
There are seven women members in the union council of ministers and six of them have been given Cabinet rank. They are - Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Harsimrat Kaur, and Nirmala Sitharaman, besides Najma Heptulla.
Five of the BJP's 11 alliance partners who won Lok Sabha seats, have been included in the council of ministers for now. They include Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Parkash Singh Badal's Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samata Party.
There are two ministers who are not members of either House of Parliament - Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman. They will have to be brought into the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha in the next six months.
There are three Dalits, and five tribals in the Union Council of Ministers.
None of the bureaucrats and police officers who were elected to the Lok Sabha on the BJP ticket were made ministers. Former union home secretary R K Singh and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh were left out. But former Army Chief, Gen (Retd.) V K Singh was lucky.
