New Delhi: After the third round of counting of votes in the Presidential polls, NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu crossed 50 per cent mark securing her win in the presidential battle against Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha by a huge margin. Of the 3,219 valid votes counted so far, Murmu has bagged 2,161, while Sinha got 1,058.
Murmu, 64, is the first Adivasi (from the Santhal tribe) and the second woman to become the nation’s First Citizen and the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces. Murmu was elected to two terms in the Odisha Assembly in 2000 and 2004, and served as a Minister from 2000 to 2004 in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD-BJP coalition government. She was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand in 2015.
Soon after Murmu’s score crossed the halfway mark, Sinha took to Twitter to congratulate her over the 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,” he wrote.
—PTI

Press Trust of India