Droupadi Murmu will be the country's 15th president as she emerged victorious after four rounds of counting of votes of MPs and MLAs, comprising the electoral college. She will also be the first president of the country to be born in Independent India and the youngest to occupy the top post.
She is also the second woman to become the president.
Murmu won by an overwhelming margin against Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha after receiving over 64 per cent valid votes in a day-long counting of ballots, to succeed Ram Nath Kovid.
After the end of the counting process that continued for more than 10 hours, returning officer P.C. Mody declared Murmu as the winner and said she got 6,76,803 votes against Sinha's 3,80,177.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated her, hailing her as the daughter of India who belongs to tribal community from eastern India.
Murmu is the first tribal to get elected to the highest office in the country.
Her election was expected to be a smooth one, but the way some of the opposition parties broke ranks to support her exposed the division in their ranks.
Sinha congratulated her and highlighted that the election had united the opposition, and he was able to raise their collective concerns through his campaign.
The Opposition's campaign hovered around picking up a joint candidate, but lacked the message as Murmu's tribal roots gained currency. The political situation in Maharashtra had an impact on the opposition parties as their campaign was subdued as key ally Shiv Sena broke away.
Non-aligned parties like Naveen Patnaik-led BJD and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress had supported the BJP. Their support had sealed the deal for Murmu as the BJP had initially lacked numbers.
Murmu’s candidature is a strong message from the BJP to the country's 10 crore strong tribal community. Soon after counting began and she inched towards the halfway mark, celebrations began in her native town of Rairangpur congratulating "Odisha's daughter", with folk artists and tribal dancers performing on the streets. Murmu belongs to one of the largest tribal groups in the country, the Santhals.
Murmu's inspirational story—pursuing higher studies despite all odds, marrying according to her choice, her stoicism despite grave personal tragedies, and following the party norms, and finally her role as rule book governor—is likely to come in handy as she occupies the highest office.
Now, with a tribal and a farmer (Jagdeep Dhankhar, if elected as vice president) occupying the top constitutional posts in the country, it will be Modi’s message for the 2024 elections. With over 10 crore population, tribal votes hold sway in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. They have sizeable presence in states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Northeastern states, which have already fallen in BJP's kitty, are tribal dominated societies too with their own intrinsic culture.
—With inputs from PTI