A woman from India’s tribal minority, Droupadi Murmu, was elected as the country’s president on Thursday with the backing of the ruling party.
This makes her the first person from the marginalised community to occupy the top post.
Santhal tribe, secured the largely ceremonial position with the support of more than half the electorate of MPs and state legislators, partial results released by the election commission showed.
Murmu, 64, was nominated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the post.
Modi tweeted to congratulate Murmu, saying her exemplary success motivates each and every Indian.
Her closest rival, the opposition-backed Yashwant Sinha, an ex-member of the BJP and former finance and external affairs minister, also tweeted his congratulations.
Murmu will be the country’s second woman president after Pratibha Patil, who held the position for five years from 2007, and succeeds Ram Nath Kovind, the second president from the Dalit community, the bottom of the Hindu caste system.
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