NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu to file nomination today

The stage is set for the Presidential polls 2022. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has announced Draupadi Murmu’s candidature. Droupadi Murmu, the presidential candidate for BJP-led NDA has arrived in Delhi on Wednesday (June 23, 2022) to file the nomination papers today (June 24). She is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance. 

BJP has invited all of its allies to join in the nomination ceremony including the chief ministers of NDA-ruled states. 

Murmu is a 2-time MLA from Odisha who has also served as a minister in the CM Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJP) state government. In the BJD-BJP coalition, Murmu served as Minister of State with independent charge for Commerce and Transport between 2000 and 2002, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from 2002 to 2004. She won the Neelkanth award for best MLA from the Odisha Legislative Assembly in 2007.

Murmu’s 2-decade political career began as a councilor. She went on to become the Vice-Chairperson of Rairangpur National Advisory Council. She became national executive member of BJP’s ST Morcha in 2013. In 2015, she became the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. 

She studied arts at the Rama Devi Women’s College in Bhubaneswar. She has served as a junior assistant in the irrigation and power department in the Odisha government. She also served as an honorary assistant teacher in the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre in Rairangpur later in her life. She was married to the late Shyam Charan Murmu and had three children – one daughter and two sons. Murmu has seen a life marked by personal tragedies having lost her husband and both her sons.

The Election Commission of India will conduct the Presidential elections 2022 on July 18 and the votes will be counted on July 21. The last date for filing nominations is June 29. 

How is the President of India elected?

The Election Commission of India conducts the presidential polls. The President of India is elected indirectly by what is called an electoral college. The electoral college consists of parliamentary and state-level lawmakers. In this year’s Presidential elections, approximately 4,900 lawmakers, including 776 parliamentarians, will elect the new President of India.