New Delhi: NDA's Draupadi Murmu on Thursday scripted history as she won the presidential election to become the first tribal woman set to occupy India's top constitutional post. Murmu crossed the 50 per cent mark to defeat Opposition's candidate Yashwant Sinha.


Draupadi Murmu, who also served as Governor Of Jharkhand between 2015-2021, will succeed Ram Nath Kovind to become India’s 15th President. Kovind’s tenure will end on July 24 and the new president will take oath on July 25.


The results were a foregone conclusion after Murmu got a significant lead following the counting of votes of MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Of the 748 valid votes, she got 540, while Yashwant Sinha bagged 204. With each MP having a vote value of 700 in this presidential election, Murmu received a total of 5,23,600 votes, which is 72.19 per cent of the total valid MP votes.


Who Is Draupadi Murmu?


Born on June 20, 1958, in Odisha's Rairangpur, Draupadi Murmu also holds the distinction of becoming the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. Murmu is also the first President to be born after Independence. 


Know More: Who Is Draupadi Murmu? Ex-Jharkhand Guv & Tribal Leader Elected As 15th President Of India


Battling poverty in one of the most remote and underdeveloped districts of the country, Murmu completed her schooling in Mayurbhanj.


She did her Bachelor's degree in Arts from Bhubaneswar's Ramadevi Women's College in Bhubaneswar. She then served as a junior assistant in the irrigation and power department in Odisha government. She was also an honorary assistant teacher in the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre in Rairangpur.


Known to keep a low-profile, Draupadi Murmu has overcome several personal tragedies in her life. The soft spoken tribal leader from Odisha's Rairangpur lost her husband, two sons, mother and brother in just six years between 2009-2015.


Her first brush with politics came in 1997 when she was elected councillor of the district board in Rairangpur. Later, she became MLA from the same constituency. She also received the Neelkanth Award for Best Legislator by the Odisha Legislative Assembly.


Murmu served twice as an MLA and once as a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government in Odisha, before being sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on May 18, 2015. Murmu stayed in the post till 2021 before moving to her village in Rairangpur. She was the first woman Governor of the state and the first female tribal leader to serve as a Governor in any Indian state.


(With agency inputs)