NEW DELHI: NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Thursday scripted history to become the first tribal leader to be elected as the President of India.
Murmu had sealed her victory in the presidential election over opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha by crossing the half-way mark and polling well over 53% votes by the end of third round itself.
She will be the first President to be born after independence and is the youngest to occupy the top post. She is also the second woman to become the President.
Landslide win
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, to succeed Ram Nath Kovid to become the country's 15th president.
After the end of the counting process that continued for more than 10 hours, returning officer P C Mody declared Murmu as the winner and said that she got 6,76,803 votes against Sinha's 3,80,177 votes.
President-elect
She will be the first President to be born after independence and is the youngest to occupy the top post. She is also the second woman to become the President.
She will be an outstanding President, says PM ModiPrime Minister Narendra Modi visited the residence of Droupadi Murmu to congratulate her as she took an unbeatable lead over opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha.
"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! Congratulations to Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji on this feat," PM Modi said on Twitter.
"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," he added.
Hopes she functions without fear or favour, says opposition candidate Yashwant SinhaYashwant Sinha conceded defeat after third round of counting and congratulated Droupadi Murmu on her victory.
"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," Yashwant Sinha said on Twitter.
In a statement, Sinha thanked the leaders of the Opposition parties for choosing him as their consensus candidate in this election.
"I also thank all members of the Electoral College who voted for me. I accepted the offer of Opposition parties solely guided by the philosophy of Karma Yoga preached by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita - 'Do your duty without expectation of the fruits thereof'," Sinha said.
How each round took Droupadi Murmu closer to Rashtrapati BhavanVotes cast by MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were the first to be counted, in Round 1. Murmu polled 540 of the 748 votes of the MPs, while Yashwant Sinha bagged 208 votes.
Votes of MLAs from 10 states were counted in the second round. While Murmu received votes of 809 MLAs out of a total of 1138 MLAs in 10 states, with a vote count of 1,05,299, 329 MLAs with vote count of 44,276 voted for Sinha, in the second round.
The third round took Droupadi Murmu past the 50% mark and sealed her victory in the presidential election. She received the votes from 812 MLAs, against Sinha's 521.
Droupadi Murmu's tally boosted by cross-votingA sizeable number of MLAs from across state assemblies cross-voted in support of Droupadi Murmu, defying their parties' stated support to opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, news agency PTI quoted sources as saying
BJP sources said around 125 MLAs from different assemblies cross-voted in her support. Counting of votes also suggests that Murmu was the beneficiary of cross-voting from 17 MPs.
Assam, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh assemblies witnessed a significant number of Opposition MLAs voting for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's candidate.
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