New Delhi: Former governor and tribal rights advocate Droupadi Murmu filed her nomination Friday for the post of the President of India, the elections for which will be held next month.
Murmu has been nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, and if elected, will become India’s first woman tribal President.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and chief ministers of BJP and NDA states were present as Murmu filed her papers.
The Prime Minister himself handed Droupadi Murmu’s nomination paper to Returning Officer P.C. Mody.
Later, the presidential candidate called Opposition leaders Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee to seek support.
As soon as she arrived at Parliament, the 64-year-old paid tribute to the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Birsa Munda.
A former Odisha minister, Murmu is the first presidential candidate from the state belonging to a major political party or alliance.
A graduate in humanities, she started out as a teacher in Rairangpur, Odisha, and then became a junior assistant at the state irrigation department.
She has held several organisation posts in the BJP, having joined the party in 1997.
In 2007, she was given the Neelkanth Award by the Odisha assembly for being the best MLA.
She was Jharkhand governor from 2015 to 2021.
As governor, she refused to give her nod to a bill approved by the assembly seeking amendments to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949.
This was when the BJP under Raghubar Das was in power in the state. The proposed amendments sought to give rights to tribals to make commercial use of their lands, while ensuring that the ownership of land did not change.
An ardent advocate of tribal rights, Murmu wasn’t convinced the bill would help the wellbeing of tribals. The bill was never passed.
After her nomination was announced on 21 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji 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.”
Murmu expressed surprise as well as delight after being selected. “As a tribal woman from remote Mayurbhanj district, I had not thought of becoming the candidate for the top post,” she told reporters the next day.
The NDA is comfortably placed in the presidential election on 18 July, falling short of a majority by just 1.2 per cent of the votes in the electoral college. The results are three days later, on 21 July.
Murmu’s election will boost the BJP’s prospects among tribal communities across the country, experts said, and will also give a leg-up to the party’s expansion plans in the eastern state.
Also read: YSRC extends support to Draupadi Murmu for President