PremiumPresidential Polls: Droupadi Murmu to file her nomination papers today. The voting for the next President of India will kick start on July 18 while counting will take place on July 21
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NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu will file her nomination papers today. Ahead of filing her paper, she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday. Arriving to a rousing welcome at the Delhi Airport, 64-year-old Murmu was received by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda and scores of BJP workers.
She is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance. She continues to break barriers and was the first woman governor of Jharkhand. She served as Jharkhand Governor from 2015 to 2021.
Coming from a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Droupadi Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances. She taught at Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Rairangpur.
She started her political career as Rairangpur NAC vice-chairman. Droupadi Murmu was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur between 2000 and 2004. As a minister, she held portfolios of Transport and Commerce, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. She again served as MLA in the Odisha assembly from 2004 to 2009.
In 2007, the Odisha assembly honoured her with the 'Nilakantha Award' for best MLA. She served as a junior assistant in Irrigation and Power Department between 1979 and 1983. She has held several organisational posts in BJP and was vice president of state ST Morcha in 1997.
Droupadi Murmu was a national executive member of BJP's ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP's ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009.
The voting for the next President of India will kick start on July 18 while counting will take place on July 21.
The electoral college for the presidential election comprises 543 Lok Sabha, 233 Rajya Sabha and 4,033 members of legislative assemblies. The total value of the parliamentarians’ votes is 5,43,200, and that of assembly members 5,43,231, totalling 1086431.
NDA is the largest group in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, but it still needs support from smaller parties and independents to secure a win. The BJP is in power in 18 states. It has 5,32,351 out of 1086431 votes.
