Bisnis.comJAKARTA – Parliament India started voting for the new presidential candidate on Monday (18/7/2022).

Reported Asian news channels On Monday (18/7/2022), a female politician, Draupadi Murmu from the Santhal tribe emerged as the leading contender for the post. Murmu was nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the ceremonial post.

If elected, she will become India’s first tribal president and second female president. The incumbent, Ram Nath Kovind, is the country’s second president from the Dalit community, the base of the Hindu caste system.

Murmu, 64, started his career as a schoolteacher in the eastern state of Odisha before entering politics. He has held ministerial positions in the state government and served as governor of the neighboring state of Jharkhand.

“Smt. Draupadi Murmu Ji has dedicated his life to serving the community and empowering the poor, oppressed and marginalized,” Modi wrote via his official Twitter account on (6/21/2022), which was launched on Monday (18/7/2022).

Meanwhile, Murmu’s main rival is veteran politician Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP member as well as former finance and foreign ministers, who has been backed by opposition parties including Congress.

He is now a vocal critic of the Modi government.

“This year’s presidential election is not a competition between two individuals but two ideologies. Only one party wants to protect the provisions and values ​​enshrined in our Constitution,” Sinha wrote on his Twitter account over the weekend.

The President of India is elected by nearly 5,000 elected members of both houses of parliament and regional legislatures across the country.

Each of their votes is weighted by the size of their constituency and the candidates are ranked by preference.

If no one gets more than 50% support, the candidate with the lowest score will be eliminated and the vote redistributed until someone reaches the target.

The final results of the presidential election will be announced this weekend.

India’s prime minister holds executive power, but the president can return certain parliamentary bills for reconsideration. The president also serves as a guide in the government formation process.

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