Yashwant Sinha former AITC leader, has been unanimously chosen as common candidate of UPA and other opposition parties for 2022 Presidential Election while Draupadi Murmu is the official nominee of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the 2022 presidential election.

Talking about Draupadi Murmu , She will be the first President born in Independent India if get’s elected. At 64, she will be the youngest occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

She is younger by a month to the sixth President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy who was 64 years and two months when he took office. President Reddy was born on May 19, 1913.

On July 18, the day of the election, Murmu will be 64 years and one month; she was born on June 20, 1958.

Also she will be the first President born in a tribal family and the second woman to hold the First Citizen’s office after Pratibha Patil if she wins the election.

Let’s look into some unique facts regarding previous Presidents of India.

The other President to be born in Odisha was Varahagiri Venkata Giri or in short named V V Giri, a Telugu born in Brahmapur. He took the chair of president’s on 24th August 1969 and served as the 4th president of India till 24th August 1974 . He also served as the 3rd vice president of india from 13 May 1967 to 3 May 1969.

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, another Telugu, is the only President to be elected unopposed. Reddy served the sixth president of India having the shortest tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker before being elected to the Presidency. He served from 25 July 1977 to 25 July 1982.

He is also the first chief minister (Andhra Pradesh) elected President. The other two chief ministers elected Presidents were Giani Zail Singh from Punjab and Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma from Madhya Pradesh .

Ramaswamy Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee both served as India’s finance and defence ministers before becoming President as none other President worked for the stated department.

It is Dr Rajendra Prasad, the only President to serve two terms from . He remained in the office from 26th January 1950 till 13th May 1962 .It was in 1957, Prasad was re-elected to the presidency, becoming the only president to serve two full terms . He is the first president of India . He died 9 months after leaving Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Presidents Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed are the only Presidents who died in office. Zakir Husain Khan was an Indian economist and politician who served as the third president of India, from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian lawyer and politician served as the 5th president of India from 1974 to 1977. He is the second Muslim President of India, and also the second President of India to die in office.

Till now six Presidents have been conferred the Bharat Ratna.They are Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Husain, V V Giri, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam who is well known as Dr Kalam is the only President to receive the Bharat Ratna prior to becoming President. He was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honour five years before becoming President. He served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
A P J Abdul Kalam was the first aerospace scientist to become President and the only non-political person to hold office. He was never a member of any political party. He was inarguably the most popular occupant of the Presidency and known as the ‘People’s President’.

K R Narayanan was the first career diplomat to be elected President. An Indian Foreign Service officer, he was a former Indian ambassador to the United States, China, Thailand and Turkey. He served as the tenth president of India (1997–2002) and ninth vice president of India (1992–1997).

He is also the first from a Dalit family to be elected President.

Ram Nath Kovind is the second President from a Dalit family,who is serving as the 14th and current President of India since 25 July 2017. Ram Nath Kovind is also the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as President of India.

Presidents Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma worked with four prime ministers.

During his two times tenure Dr Radhakrishnan witnessed the changing of four Prime Ministes of India. They were Jawaharlal Nehru, Gulzari Lal Nanda (acting PM), Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

And Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma worked with P V Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral, other four Prime Ministes of India.

Seven of 14 Presidents hailed from south India. They are Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was from Madras Presidency which comprised present Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Dr Zakir Husain belonging to Hyderabad state, presently the state of Andhra Pradesh, V V Giri a Telugu, born in present day Odisha, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy from Andhra Pradesh, Ramaswamy Venkataraman from Tamil Nadu, K R Narayanan from Kerala and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam from Tamil Nadu.

Three presidents are from north India. They are Dr Rajendra Prasad from Bihar, Giani Zail Singh from Punjab and Ram Nath Kovind from Uttar Pradesh.

Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma was from central India belonging to Madhya Pradesh.

Two Presidents were from the eastern states. They were Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed from Assam and Pranab Mukherjee from West Bengal.

One of the President was from the west. She was none other than the first and, to date, only female president of Indiaof India Smt Pratibha Patil from Maharashtra . She served as the 12th president of India from 25 July 2007 to 25 July 2012.

The longest surviving former President was R Venkataraman. He was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of IIndia. His tenure was From 1987 to 1992. He died at 98.

The following Presidents served as Vice-President before being elected as President.
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan alongside Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Zakir Husain alongside Dr S Radhakrishnan, V V Giri alongside Dr Zakir Husain, Ramaswamy Venkataraman alongside Giani Zail Singh, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma alongside R Venkataraman and K R Narayanan alongside Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma.

“BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji spoke to me about the filing of nomination of Smt #DraupadiMurmu ji for #PresidentElection. My cabinet colleagues Shri @saraka_fan and Smt @TukuniSahu will sign nomination papers today and attend the event tomorrow. #OdishaLeads” tweet by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

After getting the direction from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, two cabinet ministers, Water Resources, Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu and Law Minister Jagannath Sarka have signed the nomination paper of NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu in New Delhi on Thursday. Both will be present tomorrow During the nomination process.

Earlier on the day of the declaration of NDA’s Presidential candidate, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had welcomed the BJP parliamentary board’s move to name Droupadi Murmu. Patnaik had extended his support to Murmu’s candidature through Twitter.

“Congratulations Smt Draupadi Murmu on being announced as candidate of NDA for the country’s highest office. I was delighted when Hon’ble PM narendramodi ji discussed this with me. It is indeed a proud moment for people of Odisha”, “I am sure Smt Murmu will set a shining example for women empowerment in the country”, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik had twitted on Tuesday.

On Wednesday he had also urged all the members of Odisha legislative assembly to vote in favour of Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential elections irrespective of party differences.

“Appeal all the members of Odisha Legislative Assembly, cutting across party lines, to extend unanimous support to elect the daughter of #Odisha – Smt #DraupadiMurmu to the country’s highest office. “Naveen had twitted on Wednesday.

Draupadi Murmu to file nomination for Presidential polls tomorrow ie on June 24. She is set to contest the election on July 18 with her Opponent Jashwant Sinha, a joint opposition candidate. Looking at the numbers, Draupadi is more likely to win.

After a long wait on Tuesday evening Bharatiya Janata Party President JP Nadda announced Draupadi Murmu as the NDA’s Presidential candidate. As he informed, Ms Murmu name was been picked out of the 20 names for Presidential nominee by BJP parliamentary board as the board wanted to have a candidate from the eastern part of India, a woman and should be from the Adivasi community, which has, till now, never had a representative to occupy the highest post in the country.

So finally Droupadi Murmu (64), a tribal leader from Odisha and former Jharkhand Governor, has been named as BJP-led NDA’s choice for the next President of India.

In the word of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Draupadi Murmu, an woman, totally devoting her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalized, has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure and will be the great president of the nation.

Looking in to the personal profile of Ms. Murmu, She has a long career in education as a teacher as well as in politics. She was a two term MLA and minister (between 2000-2004) in the coalition government of the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal-BJP government in the State and has a record as being the first governor of Jharkhand to complete the full term (2015-2021) more than fits the bill.

Draupadi Murmu was born on June 20, 1958, in Baidaposi village of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, to Biranchi Narayan Tudu. Both Tudu and her grandfather were village headmen under the Panchayati Raj system.

She completed her graduation from Rama Devi Women’s College in Bhubhaneswar, Odisha. After working as an assistant professor at the Shri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research and as a junior assistant at the irrigation department of the government of Odisha, she joined the BJP in 1997. In the same year, she was elected councillor of Rairangpur and elected vice chairperson of the area as well.

In the 2000 Assembly polls, she was elected from Rairangpur and made minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government in the State. As minister, she handled various portfolios such as transport and commerce, fisheries and animal husbandry till 2004, when she was reelected as MLA. At the same time, she remained committed to the party, and she was variously district president of the BJP unit in Mayurbhanj, and State president of the BJP Scheduled Tribe Morcha between 2006-2009.In 2015, she was declared Jharkhand governor.

Draupadi Murmu had married to Shyam Charan Murmu. The couple had two sons, and a daughter. But very unfortunately She lossed her husband and two son as they died and now she is living Only with her daughter.

If she got elected, Ms. Murmu will be the first tribal , Second woman president and also be the first president to be born after Independence.

“For the first time, preference has been given to a woman tribal candidate. We announce Draupadi Murmu as NDA’s candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections… BJP parliamentary board discussed 20 names for presidential nominee, it was decided to pick someone from east India, a tribal & woman,” BJP chief JP Nadda said while announcing the name of Murmu as the Presidential candidate of the BJP.

“Like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Draupadi Murmu has been associated with the field of education for a long time and has been a legislator and a minister,” he further added. Among other key appointments, Murmu has headed the transport and commerce departments in the government of Odisha and has won the Neelkanth award for legislator in 2007.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also welcomed the announcement of Murmu’s name as the BJP’s Presidential candidate and said that “this decision will elevate tribal pride to new heights.” “I congratulate PM Narendra Modi for this decision,” Shah said in a tweet.

“I welcome Draupadi Murmu’s name as the Presidential candidate. She is a capable and deserving candidate; has worked in different roles & responsibilities including for the poor, tribals, and women. She’ll fulfill her responsibilities even at this post,” said Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

Responding to the development, Murmu said that she was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the announcement of her name. “Surprised as well as delighted on learning to be NDA’s Presidential candidate,” she said, news agency PTI reported. She further said that she would request Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for support in Presidential polls as the daughter of the soil.

“Hope all Odisha MPs and MLAs will support me as I was MLA from state twice and Minister in BJD-BJP government,” she said.

With this, the stage is set for a contest between Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition’s choice for the nominee of the President of India, and Murmu, the NDA’s choice. “We have given a candidate who can truly serve as the custodian of the constitution & stop the current government from doing further damage to Indian Democracy & India’s social fabric. A committee has been formed to steer Shri Sinha’s campaign which will start working from today,” said NCP chief Sharad Pawar, while backing the Opposition’s choice.