New Delhi: On 21 July, Droupadi Murmu scripted history by becoming the first tribal woman to be elected as the President of the country, beating the Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The NDA’s candidate Murmu secured a staggering 2,824 votes, the electoral value of which comes to 6,76,803 out of a total of 10,86,431, or 64.03 per cent, against joint opposition candidate Sinha, who received 1,877 votes with an electoral value of 3,80,177, or 35.97 per cent. Murmu will take oath on 25 July.
After her win, many well-known politicians and personalities, including BJP leaders, congratulated the President-elect on Twitter, tagging her in their tweets.
Except, Murmu is not on Twitter.
As a result, most ended up tagging suspicious and unverified handles made in Murmu’s name.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar congratulated Murmu and offered his “best wishes” for her Presidential tenure and went on to tag a fake handle.
Heartfelt congratulations Smt Droupadi Murmu on being elected as the President of India. My best wishes to you as you prepare to take up the responsibilities and charge of your esteemed office.
Wishing you success in your tenure as President.@DroupadiMurmu__ #DroupadiMurmu
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) July 21, 2022
Spiritual guru Sadhguru wrote that Murmu’s win was a moment of “pride and joy” for every citizen in the country and went on to tag the same fake handle.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, applauded Murmu in a Twitter post on her big win and received a reply from the imposter account. She then responded with “humble regards” to the tweet.
Humble regards
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 21, 2022
Not much is known about the imposter account which describes itself as “The Official Twitter account of first Tribal and the 15th President of India Smt Draupadi Murmu, Account run by President’s Secretariat at @rashtrapatibhvn”, in its Twitter bio.
The handle was created in June and has been actively posting since.
Also read: Why Dhankhar and Murmu are perfect fit in Modi’s Mission 2024
Fact-check
64-year-old Murmu, the former governor of Jharkhand, is not on Twitter yet, and ever since the BJP-led NDA announced her as its candidate for the Presidential elections this year, many fake Twitter handles have been created in her name.
Many BJP leaders such as Jagdish Vishwakarma and Pankajkumar Desai, among others, are tagging a parody account of Murmu, created last year in January, in their post.
गुजरात की पावन धरा पर NDA के राष्ट्रपति पद की उम्मीदवार श्रीमती @DroupadiMurmu__ जी का अहमदाबाद हवाई अड्डे पर उत्साहसभर स्वागत किया। pic.twitter.com/ToKf0oK7to
— Jagdish Vishwakarma (@MLAJagdish) July 17, 2022
There has been no official notice or statement by the government, or even from Murmu, to verify the authenticity of the account.
(In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer)
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Jharkhand to Goa & MP, cross-voting for Droupadi Murmu exposes chinks in opposition unity