New Delhi,June 21,2022: The BJP parliamentary board on Tuesday named Draupadi Murmu, a tribal leader of the party from Odisha, as the ruling NDA’s candidate for the presidential election.
BJP president J P Nadda announced her name at a press conference following a meeting of the party top brass.
Murmu (64), a former Jharkhand governor, will be the first tribal woman to occupy the top constitutional post if she is elected, a strong possibility as numbers are stacked in the favour of the BJP-led NDA.
Opposition had earlier announced Yashwant Sinha as its joint candidate for the post. The poll is slated for July 18.
“Draupadi Murmu has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised. She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure. I am confident she will be a great President of our nation,” PM Modi tweeted.
In 2015, Draupadi Murmu was sworn in as the first female Governor of Jharkhand. She is an Odisha native from the Santhal tribe. Murmu began her career as a teacher before entering politics in Odisha in 1997. Draupadi Murmu was elected to the Rairangpur constituency twice, in 2000 and 2009, after serving as vice-president of the BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha.
Between 2000 and 2004, Draupadi Murmu served as a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government of Odisha, first in the Commerce and Transport department and then in the Fisheries and Animal Resources department.
