NEW DELHI, June 24: Droupadi Murmu, the BJP-led NDA’s candidate on Friday filed her nomination papers for the presidential elections to be held on July 18.
The 64-year old tribal leader from Odisha, who is almost certain to be elected as the president, was accompanied by the prime minister Narendra Modi, and a large number of NDA leaders including the chief ministers of many of the BJP-ruled states when she filed her papers at the Parliament house.
Modi had proposed her name for the nomination, which was seconded by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Modi himself handed over her nomination papers to the returning officer for the presidential election, P C Mody. Among others to accompany Ms Murmu were the union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, the BJP national president JP Nadda, and the chief ministers Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), BS Bommai (Karnataka), Bhupendra Patel (Gujarat), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Pushkar Sigh Dhami (Uttarakhand), Pramod Sawant (Goa) and N Biren Singh (Manipur).
In addition to the NDA leaders, YSR Congress leader V Vijaysaibal Reddy, the BJD Sasmit Patra, AIADMK leader O. Paneerselvam and M. Thambidurai, and JD-U’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh were also present during filling of her nomination showing their support to the tribal candidate for the top office in the country.
With the number in the electoral house for the presidential elections overwhelmingly in her favour, Ms Murmu will be the second president of India and will also be the youngest in the high office, second only to N. Sanjeeva Reddy, who was a few days elder to her when he became the President.
Soon after filling her papers, Ms Murmu telephonically contacted some of the opposition leaders seeking their support for her election. She called up Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Nationalist Congress chief Sharad Pawar, and West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee among others and all of them conveyed their best wishes for her success.
Murmu, a Santhali tribe leader, served as the Jharkhand governor between 2015 and 2021. Her name was announced by BJP president JP Nadda on Tuesday after he attended the party’s parliamentary board meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Thursday, Murmu had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi who congratulated her on being named the presidential candidate. “Met Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji. Her Presidential nomination has been appreciated across India by all sections of society. Her understanding of grassroots problems and vision for India’s development is outstanding,” the prime minister tweeted.
(Manas Dasgupta)