Droupadi Murmu | All about India's first tribal woman at the top constitutional post

File image of President-elect Droupadi Murmu (PTI photo)

Droupadi Murmu has won the election for the post of President of India. She will be the first tribal woman to take up the office when she is sworn in.

Murmu, 64, the Presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), defeated Opposition’s Yashwant Sinha. The results were declared on July 21.

Murmu won by an overwhelming margin against Sinha after receiving over 64 per cent valid votes in a day-long counting of ballots of MPs and MLAs, comprising the electoral college.

After the end of the counting process that continued for more than 10 hours, returning officer PC Mody declared Murmu as the winner and said that she got 6,76,803 votes against Sinha's 3,80,177 votes.

Murmu's victory was sealed after the third round when the returning officer announced that Murmu had already received over 53 percent of the total valid votes even as ballots from 10 states and Union territories were still being counted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reacting to Murmu's win, said he is "certain she will be an outstanding President who will lead from the front".

"Droupadi Murmu ji's life, her early struggles, her rich service and her exemplary success motivates each and every Indian. She has emerged as a ray of hope for our citizens, especially the poor, marginalised and the downtrodden," Modi said.

"Murmu ji has been an outstanding MLA and Minister. She had an excellent tenure as Jharkhand Governor. I am certain she will be an outstanding President who will lead from the front and strengthen India's development journey," he added.

India scripts history. At a time when 1.3 billion Indians are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a daughter of India hailing from a tribal community born in a remote part of eastern India has been elected our President!

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Congratulations to Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji on this feat.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 21, 2022

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves from the residence of NDA's Presidential candidate #DroupadiMurmu after congratulating her on being elected as the country's President. pic.twitter.com/aM6aIckOxB

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2022

Outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind also wished her successor. "Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to Smt. Droupadi Murmu on being elected as the 15th President of India," he tweeted.

Here are the other top reactions to Droupadi Murmu's victory

Murmu's rival Sinha has conceded defeat and extended his wishes to her on social media. "I heartily congratulate Droupadi Murmu on her victory in Presidential Election 2022. I hope—indeed, every Indian hopes—that as 15th President she functions as Custodian of Constitution without fear or favour. I join fellow countrymen in extending best wishes to her," he said.

I join my fellow citizens in congratulating Smt Droupadi Murmu on her victory in the Presidential Election 2022.

India hopes that as the 15th President of the Republic she functions as the Custodian of the Constitution without fear or favour. pic.twitter.com/0gG3pdvTor

— Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) July 21, 2022

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also wished Murmu on her victory in the Presidential polls, calling her victory a "proof of power" of India's democracy.

"She has been active in working for welfare of villages, poor, deprived. Rising amidst them she has reached highest constitutional post today. This is the proof of power of India's democracy," Singh said.

Murmu, who is also the former Governor of Jharkhand, will be sworn in as 15th President of India on July 25, a day after the term of incumbent Ram Nath Kovind ends.

Humble origins

Born on June 20 1958, Murmu was the first girl in Uparbeda village in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district to go to college. Her father and grandfather were the traditional heads of the village council.

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After graduating with a BA degree from Ramadevi Women’s College (now a University) in Bhubaneswar, Murmu, who belongs to the Santhal tribe, worked as a clerk in the Odisha Secretariat and married Shyam Charan Murmu, a bank employee.  In the early nineties, Murmu also taught at Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre at Rairangpur.

Until recently, she continued to live in the two-storey house that she built with her late husband.

Murmu made her entry into state politics in the 1990s, and was elected as a councilor in Rairangpur municipality in 1997. That same year, the BJP elevated her as the vice president of its state’s ST Morcha.

Murmu was elected to the Odisha Assembly twice. In both stints, she represented the Rairangpur constituency and became a minister. First in 2000, when the BJP fought in alliance with the BJD and she was given the Transport and Commerce portfolios, and later in 2004, in the Naveen Patnaik-led coalition government, when she was made Minister of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.

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Between 2006 and 2009, Murmu served as the state president of the BJP's ST Morcha. From 2002-09, and from 2013-15, she was also a national executive member of the BJP's ST Morcha.

In 2009, she contested the Lok Sabha election from Mayurbhanj constituency, but lost as the BJD and BJP had severed ties.

A series of tragedies

In the next few years, Murmu witnessed many ups and downs in her personal life. She lost three of her family members. Her eldest son Laxman Murmu died in 2009, her younger son Sippun Murmu passed away in 2013 and her husband Shyam Charan Murmu, in 2014.

She also has a daughter, Itishree Murmu.

In 2015, Murmu was appointed as the first woman governor of Jharkhand  by the BJP-led central government. She held the position for six years, till 2021. During the tenure, she refused assent to two Bills — the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1949 that sought to use the land for commercial purpose without changing the land rights.

Murmu's name was also doing the rounds as the BJP's likely choice for the top constitutional post in 2017, when late President Pranab Mukherjee was set to leave Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Picking a tribal woman for the top constitutional post this time, the BJP-led NDA successfully persuaded many regional parties that are not part of the coalition to back her. The BJP had clearly sent out a political message after elevating a Dalit, Ram Nath Kovind, to the top post five years back, say analysts. It is doing the same this time around, with a tribal face.

(With inputs from agencies)