New Delhi: A new history was born when Draupadi Murmu was elected as the fifteenth President of the country. Draupadi Murmu is the second woman and the first tribal woman to hold the office of President. Murmu secured more than 50 percent of the total value of votes at the end of the third round of counting of votes in the presidential election. States including Kerala and Karnataka were counted in this round.
With this, out of a total of 3219 votes, Murmu got 2161 votes (vote value — 5,77,777) and Yashwant Sinha got 1058 votes (vote value — 2,61,062). Murmu got the lead in the second round as well. When the votes of the first ten states were counted, Murmu got 809 votes. Its value is 1,05,299. Yashwant Sinha also got 329 votes. Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Modi informed that its value is 44,276.
From a remote village in Odisha’s most backward district, Mayurbhanj, she reaches the status of the first citizen of the world’s largest democracy.
Many may not remember that Draupadi Murmu was considered for the same position five years ago. It was when Pranab Mukherjee’s term ended. Murmu, then the Governor of Jharkhand, was on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presidential list. But eventually, RSS spokesperson Ram Nath Kovind shifted to the top priority.
Governor Murmu had sent back bills to amend the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and the Santal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act. The tribals of Jharkhand strongly opposed the amendments brought by the previous BJP government to these laws. These attitudes made Murmu a powerful tribal leader.
Murmu, who belongs to the Santhal community, was a teacher before entering state politics. Graduated from Ramadevi College, Bhubaneswar. She was MLA from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj on BJP ticket in 2000 and 2009. In 2000, she became the Minister in charge of Commerce, Transport, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry in the BJP-BJD coalition government. In 2009, when the BJD alliance broke up, they were able to win even when the BJP lost.
Before becoming an MLA, she was a councilor in Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat in 1997. She also served as the Vice President of BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha. In 2015, she was sworn in as the first woman governor of Jharkhand. Having lost her husband Shyam Charan Murmu and two sons, Murmu has faced many tragedies in her personal life. Only one daughter is with them now.
