Droupadi Murmu makes history, becomes India’s first tribal woman President

After the third round of counting of votes in the Presidential polls, NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu crossed 50 per cent mark securing her win in the presidential battle against Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha by a huge margin. Of the 3,219 valid votes counted so far, Murmu has bagged 2,161, while Sinha got 1,058, The Indian Express reported. 

Murmu, 64, is the first Adivasi and second woman to become the nation’s First Citizen and the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces. Murmu was elected to two terms in the Odisha Assembly in 2000 and 2004, and served as a Minister from 2000 to 2004 in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD-BJP coalition government. She was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand in 2015.

Soon after Murmu’s score crossed the halfway mark, Sinha took to Twitter to congratulate her over the victory. “I join my fellow citizens in congratulating Smt Droupadi Murmu on her victory in the Presidential Election 2022. India hopes that as the 15th President of the Republic she functions as the Custodian of the Constitution without fear or favour,” he wrote.

PM Narendra Modi congratulates Droupadi Murmu on her victory in the Presidential polls. "India scripts history. At a time when 1.3 billion Indians are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President! Congratulations to Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji on this feat," he wrote after the NDA candidate crossed the halfway mark. (The Indian Express)