Draupadi Murmu Wins Presidency in India

Draupadi Murmu thus becomes the first woman of tribal origin to hold India's highest constitutional office, although she is the second female president of the South Asian nation.

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64-year-old National Democratic Alliance candidate, led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, beat former finance minister and former chancellor Yashwant Sinha, a member of the Trinamool Congress party.

Murmu became the first woman of tribal origin to hold the country's highest constitutional office in a vote held last Monday involving nearly 4 800 members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies from India's different states and territories.

The former governor of Jharkhand state from 2015-2021 is India's second female president, as Pratibha Devisingh Patil became the first after winning the 2007 presidential election.

 
Current Indian President Ram Nath Kovind's term of office ends on July 24, and the new ruler will be sworn in on July 25.

"I am confident that (Murmu) will be an outstanding president who will lead from the front and strengthen India's development process," the Indian leader said via Twitter.

The President's position in India has a rather formal content according to the country's Constitution, with the Prime Minister exercising the functions of the Chief Executive.