Droupadi Murmu files nomination for presidential polls

The NDA alliance candidate Draupadi Murmu on Thursday filed her nomination for the  post of president in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda were present. In the electoral college. PM Modi, who was her first proposer, handed over the set of papers to Returning Officer P C Mody. The BJP had prepared four set of nominations for Murmu's candidature. Besides, YSR Congress' V Vijaysai Reddy and BJD leader Sasmit Patra, who are not part of the alliance, were also in Parliament to back her nomination. AIADMK leader O Paneerselvam and M Thambidurai, JD-U's Rajiv Ranjan Singh also reached Parliament early. Every set of nomination has to have 50 proposers and 50 seconders among elected representatives.

She is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance. If elected, Ms Murmu will be the first woman tribal leader and the second woman in the post. Ms Murmu will also be the youngest president ever, second only to N Sanjeeva Reddy, who was a few days elder to her when he became the President. The NDA has 5,32,351 of the total 10,86,431 votes. The Biju Janata Dal has 31,686 votes, YSR Congress has 45,550 votes and the AIADMK has 14,940 votes. The presidential polls will be held on July 18 and the counting of votes will take place on July 21. The new president will be sworn in on July 25.