Who is Draupadi Murmu? Everything you should know about BJP Presidential candidate
New Delhi: Draupadi Murmu was on Tuesday nominated as the Presidential candidate of the ruling NDA. She will be pitted against former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha who was nominated as the candidate of opposition earlier in the day.
Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a tribal leader from Odisha. She was the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. The 64-year-old Murmu will also become the first tribal woman to hold the office of the President of India.
Elections to choose the next President will be held on July 18, the counting on July 21. The new President will take oath on July 25, the Election Commission has said.
Murmu was also a contender for the post and was a forerunner in the build-up to the Presidential polls in 2017 but the BJP had given its nod to then Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, who happened to be a Dalit.
The first woman Governor of Jharkhand, Draupadi Murmu started her political career as a councilor.
A two-time BJP legislator from Odisha, Murmu was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet when the Biju Janata Dal or BJD ruled the state with the support of the BJP.
She also headed the BJP's Mayurbhanj district unit in Odisha and represented Rairangpur in the Odisha assembly.
Murmu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rama Devi Women's College, Bhubaneswar. Before she joined politics in 1997, she worked as an honorary assistant professor in the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research, Rairangpur, and as a junior assistant in the irrigation department of Odisha.
Her political journey began in 1997 when she was elected councilor in the Rairangpur district in Odisha. The same year she went on to become the Vice-Chairperson of Rairangpur. Just three years later, she was elected from the same constituency of Rairangpur to the state assembly.
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Integrity of electoral process severely compromised, Cong to soon launch movement: CWC
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress Working Committee met here on Friday and adopted a resolution alleging the integrity of the entire electoral process was being severely compromised against which the party would soon launch a movement.
In the resolution of the top body of the Congress, the party said free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that was being called into "serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission".
The CWC, which met amid the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, said the session has been a washout so far because of the Narendra Modi government's "stubborn refusal" to have an immediate discussion on three pressing national issues -- "the recent revelations regarding corruption by a business group, and the violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal".
Asked why the Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution does not name the business group, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The answer is the Adani group".
"The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission.
"Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take these up these public concerns as a national movement," the resolution stated.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Ramesh and Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, party general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal said the party discussed the political situation in the country for four-and-half hours and adopted the resolution.
He said the CWC has decided to constitute internal committees to look into electoral performance and organisational matters.
About the Assembly polls results in Maharashtra, Venugopal said the electoral outcome in the state was "beyond normal understanding and it appears to be a clear case of targeted manipulation".
