National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee for the post of President of India, Droupadi Murmu, reached Delhi on Thursday, a day prior to her filing her nomination papers for the polls to the post to be held on July 18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was with Ms. Murmu, and said that her nomination for the post of President of India “has been appreciated across India by all sections of society. Her understanding of grassroots problems and vision for India’s development is outstanding”. Ms. Murmu also met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 14-member committee to oversee the election of the NDA’s candidate as President, meanwhile, met at the residence of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Thursday morning to tie-up loose ends related to the filing of the nomination papers on Friday. The committee also discussed the campaign schedule and travel to various States for Ms. Murmu to secure assured support.
Also read: Profile | The importance of being Droupadi Murmu
Ms. Murmu, the first person from a tribal community to be nominated for the post of President by a ruling dispensation, is also the first Odia to be so honoured. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has openly supported Ms. Murmu’s candidature, calling her the “daughter of Odisha” and appealing to all members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly to support her from across party lines. On Thursday, Mr. Patnaik asked two senior Cabinet Ministers of his government, Jagannath Saraka and Tukuni Sahu, to sign Ms. Murmu’s nomination papers as proposers. According to the rules, nomination to the polls for the post of President requires the signatures of 50 electors as proposers and seconders.
Sources in the government told The Hindu that the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya and Nagaland, Conrad Sangma and Neiphiu Rio — whose parties, the National People’s Party and the National Democratic Progressive Party respectively, are a part of the NDA — will also be signing Ms. Murmu’s nomination papers as proposers. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), again an NDA ally, will likely depute its national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lallan’, and Lok Sabha MPs Dileshwar Kamait, Chandeshwar Chandravanshi, Sunil Kumar Pintu and Alok Kumar Suman to sign as proposers.
Five tribal MPs of the BJP from Rajasthan have also been roped in as proposers.
Also read: The process of electing India’s President
Meanwhile, Lok Jan Shakti Party president Chirag Paswan has also rendered support to Ms. Murmu. He tweeted: “It is a matter of pride for us that Draupadi Murmu Ji has been nominated as the Presidential candidate by NDA. This would be the first time in the country that a daughter coming from a tribal society would assume the responsibility of the highest post in the country. LJP (Ram Vilas) fully supports this decision of the BJP.”
The voting for the next President of India will be held on July 18 and the results will be announced on July 21.
