New Delhi , June 24 : . The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA’s presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu filed her nomination papers for presidential election scheduled to be held on July 18. Murmu, 64, was accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while handing over the set of papers to Returning Officer P C Mody.
Met Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji. Her Presidential nomination has been appreciated across India by all sections of society. Her understanding of grassroots problems and vision for India’s development is outstanding. pic.twitter.com/4WB2LO6pu9
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 23, 2022
Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal, BJP president J P Nadda and several chief ministers including Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Manohar Lal Khattar, B S Bommai, Bhupendra Patel, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Pramod Sawant and N Biren Singh were also present on the occasion.
YSR Congress’ V Vijaysai Reddy and Biju Janta Dal’s Sasmit Patra, who are not part of the NDA, were also in Parliament to back her nomination. AIADMK leaders O Paneerselvam and M Thambidurai and JD-U’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh also reached Parliament.
Murmu spoke with Congress interim-president Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and NCP chief Sharad Pawar seeking their party’s support for her candidature in the presidential election, according to sources.
Murmu, the former governor of Jharkhand and a prominent politician from Odisha’s tribal community, will be up against former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, 84, the Opposition’s candidate in the July 18 election, which will be followed by vote counting on July 21. The term of President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.
Every set of nomination has to have 50 proposers and 50 seconders among elected representatives.
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Murmu, if elected, will be the first tribal president and the second woman in the post. She will also be the youngest president ever, second only to N Sanjeeva Reddy, who was a few days elder to her when he became the President.
She may not only become the first tribal woman president of India but also the second woman president in the country’s history after Pratibha Patil who served as president from 2007-2012.
BJP President J.P Nadda, who announced the name of Draupadi Murmu as the NDA candidate for presidential elections, said that the BJP Parliamentary wanted the candidate should be from the northeast, a woman and from the Adivasi community. It will be the first time a tribal woman is contesting to take the highest post in the country.
The BJP Parliament chose her out of 20 presidential candidates.
The 64-year-old Murmu was the first-ever woman Governor of Jharkhand in 2015.
(With Agency inputs)