Droupadi Murmu Is India’s First Tribal President

The NDA’s presidential candidate crossed the 50% mark after the third round of counting to emerge victorious in the poll over her rival Yashwant Sinha.

New Delhi: Droupadi Murmu, 64, has become India’s first tribal woman president, after counting for the presidential polls almost concluded on Thursday, July 21. She will take oath on July 25.

The NDA’s presidential candidate crossed the 50% mark after the third round of counting to emerge victorious in the poll over her rival Yashwant Sinha.

According to PTI, an official announcement on her win is expected after all votes are counted but she has already got 5,77,777 votes, which is more than the halfway mark of the total valid votes cast in the election on July 18.

Returning officer P.C. Mody announced that Murmu has already received over 53% of the total valid votes. Ballots from 10 states and Union Territories are being still counted.

In every round of counting so far, she has received more than two-third votes.

On Thursday, the former Jharkhand governor, Murmu, who found many other backers along her campaign trail, won an easy victory over the opposition’s pick Sinha.

Sources said 17 MPs from opposition parties have cross-voted in her support, the news agency reported.

With this, the BJP leader from Odisha becomes the first member of a tribal community to occupy the top constitutional post.

Over 99% of 4,796 eligible electors, including 771 MPs and 4,025 MLAs, voted for the presidential polls on July 18.

Also read: The Mahabharata’s Draupadi Questioned Injustice, India Needs President Droupadi to Do the Same

After the first round of counting, when votes of all members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were taken into account, Murmu was found leading with 540 of the 748 votes polled.

After the second round of counting, that included ballot papers from the first 10 states, in alphabetical order, Droupadi Murmu was ahead of Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha by a huge margin, the Indian Express reported.

According to PTI, Murmu crossed the 50% mark to emerge victorious in presidential poll after the third round of counting.

Of the 3,219 valid votes counted so far, Murmu has bagged 2,161, while Sinha got 1,058, the newspaper reported.

According to NDTV, 34 parties declared support for Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, while 44 parties supported Droupadi Murmu.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that Murmu will make an “outstanding” president and said that India has scripted history with a daughter from a tribal community being elected to the top post.

“I would like to thank all those MPs and MLAs across party lines who have supported the candidature of Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji. Her record victory augurs well for our democracy,” he tweeted.

Opposition candidate Sinha congratulated Murmu on her win and said every Indian hopes that as the 15th President she functions as the “custodian of the Constitution” without fear or favour.

“I also thank all members of the Electoral College who voted for me. I accepted the offer of Opposition parties solely guided by the philosophy of Karma Yoga preached by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita – ‘Do your duty without expectation of the fruits thereof’,” Sinha said in a statement.

Congratulating the new president, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted as saying, “Congratulations and best wishes to Smt. Droupadi Murmu ji on being elected as the 15th President of India.”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: “I would like to congratulate Hon’ble Presidential-Elect Smt Draupadi Murmu. The country will sincerely look up to you as the Head of State to protect the ideals of our Constitution & be the custodian of our democracy, especially when (the) nation is plagued with so many dissensions (sic).”

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “The first woman tribal to become President is a momentous occasion and thanks to PM Modi for giving such unique gift. There is absolute euphoria in Assam, particularly in the tea gardens, people are very happy.”

“Congratulate the daughter of Odisha, #DroupadiMurmu on being elected as 15th President of India. It’s indeed a very proud moment for everyone in Odisha that she has been elected for the highest office in the country,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted.

(With PTI inputs)