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

The NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu crossed the 50% threshold after the third round of vote counting in the presidential elections, assuring her victory against the nominee of the opposition, Yashwant Sinha, by a sizable margin. Murmu has received 2,161 of the 3,219 valid votes that have been counted so far, while Sinha received 1,058.

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 served as a Minister in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2004 and was elected to two terms in the Odisha Assembly in 2000 and 2004. 2015 saw her take the oath of office as Jharkhand’s first female governor.

Sinha congratulated Murmu on her victory on Twitter not long after her score passed the halfway point. “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.