The inauguration ceremony of India's new Parliament building has kicked off today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated the new Parliament building to 144 crore Indians.

PM Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have arrived at the new Parliament building and they were seen attending the vedic puja, havan and multi-faith prayer. PM Modi has installed the historic ‘Sengol’ near the Lok Sabha's speaker's chair.

The construction of the new Parliament building started in January 2021, after Modi laid the foundation stone and performed a bhoomi pujan on December 10, 2020.

The new building, spread over 64,500 square metres, has bigger Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha chambers. The total seating capacity in Lok Sabha will increase from 543 in the existing building to 888; and from 250 to 384 in Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha chamber will be able to accommodate additional seating up to 1,272 seats. The new building does not have a Central Hall, and the new Lok Sabha chamber will be used for joint sittings.

Ahead of the inauguration, superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar congratulated the PM and promoted the new structure. SRK and Akshay added their voiceover to the video shared earlier by the PM, while Rajinikanth thanked him for adding the Tamilian symbol to the building.

The morning phase will end at close to 9:30 am after which the second leg of the ceremony is expected to begin at noon with the singing of the national anthem in the Lok Sabha chamber in the presence of all the dignitaries including PM Modi.