Draupadi Murmu elected 15th President of India

Bhubaneswar: A proud moment for Odisha as NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu was elected today as country’s 15th President in the Presidential Election 2022.

She defeated Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha, the former finance minister in NDA regime led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the poll held on July 18. She succeeded incumbent Ram Nath Kovind, whose term will end on July 25.

Droupadi Murmu accumulated 53.13 per cent of total vote value after three rounds of counting.

“Draupadi Murmu got more votes than the quota that was calculated, based on which, I as a Returning Officer for Presidential Election 2022 handed over the declaration certificate to the President-elect,” Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for Presidential Election PC Mody said.

“She got a total of 64% votes. A total of 53 invalid votes were there. Draupadi Murmu got a total of 2,824 votes of the value of 6,76,803 and Yashwant Sinha got a total of 1,877 votes of the value of 3,80,177,” the Returning Officer Mody added.

With the victory, Murmu became the first tribal woman from Odisha to occupy the top constitutional post in the country. She will be sworn-in as the 15th President of India on July 25 in New Delhi.

Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had backed Murmu’s candidature for the Presidential Election. The party led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had appealed to all the members to vote for ‘daughter of the soil’ to elect her as the President of India.