Draupadi Murmu, the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate, has received the support of many other political parties. She is pitted against Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the race to Rashtrapati Bhawan scheduled on July 18.
The Shiv Sena, once the NDA partner before parting ways in 2019, has also decided to back Murmu. Extending its support to her, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said Shiv Sena announced its support for Murmu without any pressure. He said that going by the present political situation in Maharashtra, "I should not have backed her. But we are not narrow-minded." Thackeray also acknowledged that this is the first occasion wherein a tribal woman is getting the opportunity to become President.
Apart from Shiv Sena, the ruling YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh, with 31 MPs and 151 MLAs, pledged its support to Murmu. The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with four MPs and 23 MLAs also announced it will back the NDA nominee. The lone MLA of Jana Sena, who has virtually defected to the YSRC, will also vote along. In effect, all votes from Andhra Pradesh will go to Murmu, news agency PTI reported.
Some regional parties like Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Janata Dal (Secular), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have also extended their support to the NDA pick. Makaranda Muduli, the Independent MLA from the Rayagada district of Odisha, also confirmed support to Murmu. Here is the list of political parties other then NDA which are backing Murmu in the presidential polls:
With support from these parties, the vote share of NDA nominee Draupadi Murmu has already crossed 60 percent. It was around 50 percent at the time of her nomination, reports said. If elected, 64-year-old Murmu will be the first Indian president from a tribal community, the first president from Odisha, and the first president of India to be born after independence. Besides, she would also become the second woman to hold the highest office in the country.
(Edited by : Priyanka Rathi)
First Published: Jul 13, 2022 4:49 PM IST
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