Modi returned to power for a third consecutive term earlier this month. Modi and his Council of Ministers took oath on June 9

This is the third term of Modi as a member of the Lok Sabha. He retained the Varanasi seat, which he has been winning since 2014. As Leader of the House, he was the first one to take oath

Earlier in the day, B Mahtab took oath as member of the new House as well as that of pro-tem speaker at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Ahead of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that his government will strive to take everyone along in his third term and build consensus but also took a swipe at the Congress over the Emergency, calling it a "black spot" on democracy when the Constitution was "discarded"

With the Congress and the opposition, in general, targeting his government over a host of issues, including the choice of pro-tem Speaker, Modi's customary pre-session remarks carried barbs for his rivals as he asserted that people want debate and diligence and not drama and disturbance in Parliament

People want substance not slogans, he told reporters, in an apparent reference to several previous sessions which were marred by absence of debate due to adjournments caused by frequent run-ins between the treasury and opposition benches

Buoyed by its strong show in the Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance secured a majority but with reduced numbers, the opposition INDIA bloc is expected to turn up its aggression inside and outside Parliament over a number of issues

Modi said people want a good and responsible opposition and added that its conduct has been disappointing in the past. He expressed the hope that it will play its role this time and maintain democratic decorum

The prime minister described his alliance's win in the polls as great and grand and a matter of pride, noting that this is the first time in the last 60 years that a government has assumed office for a third straight term