Droupadi Murmu scripts history, is first tribal, youngest President

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, July 21

Odisha-born Droupadi Murmu (64), ruling NDA’s candidate, on Thursday created history by getting elected as India’s first tribal President and the youngest ever to hold the highest constitutional office in the country.

Editorial: President Murmu: Her win gives hope to marginalised tribal community

Political journey

June 20, 1958: Born at Uparbeda village of Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj, Odisha (hails from Santhal tribe)

1979: After doing BA, works as junior asst in Odisha Irrigation Dept for 4 years

1997: Quits school teaching job in Rairangpur, gets elected as area councillor

2000-04: Wins MLA election, becomes minister in Odisha’s BJD-BJP govt

2013: Appointed BJP ST Morcha national executive member

2015: Made first woman Governor of Jharkhand, stays in post till 2021

Murmu secured nearly two-thirds (64.04 per cent) of the cumulative value of the valid votes at the end of four rounds of counting in Parliament House complex to become India’s 15th President and the first ever from eastern part of the country.

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Of the 4,754 votes that were polled in the 16th presidential election held on July 18, 4,701 were declared valid and 53 invalid. The quota sufficient to get a candidate elected was determined by dividing the total number of first preference votes secured by both candidates by two and then adding one to the quotient.

“The said quota was 5,28,491. Murmu secured 2,824 first preference votes with a value of 6,76,803 while Yashwant Sinha got 1,877 first preference votes with value 3,80,177. As the first preference votes secured by Murmu were greater than the requisite quota… she has been duly elected to the office of the President of India,” said PC Mody, Rajya Sabha secretary general and the returning officer for the election. The total value of the polled votes was 10,59,980 and Murmu had crossed the half-way mark around 8 pm with counting still underway. One round to go at 8 pm, Murmu’s challenger and Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha conceded defeat after she won over 50 per cent of the value of counted ballots. Sinha congratulated his rival, hoping she would “function as the custodian of the Constitution without fear or favour”.

PM Narendra Modi congratulated her and hailed the day as “historic.”

Murmu will take oath on July 25, a day after incumbent Ram Nath Kovind’s term expires. She will become only the second woman after Pratibha Patil to be elected the first citizen of the country.

In Punjab, Murmu polled eight votes out of valid 114. Of these eight, two came from SAD (one of three MLAs abstained), two from the BJP and one from the BSP. Data indicates, three MLAs likely cross-voted for Murmu in Punjab.

Earlier today, in the first round where votes of elected MPs were counted, Murmu garnered 72 per cent of the total vote value.

The counting revealed evidence of massive cross-voting in favour of Murmu with 25 Congress MLAs backing her in Assam where CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said Murmu received 104 votes as against NDA’s strength of 79 in the 126-member Assembly.

In West Bengal too, there was one cross-vote in her favour. Murmu’s victory could significantly boost the ruling BJP’s electoral prospects ahead of elections in nine states in 2023 and in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year. Sources said 17 MPs had cross-voted in Murmu’s favour.