Murmu VS Sinha: Stage set for Presidential Election

The stage is set for the crucial presidential polls tomorrow, with the NDA as well as opposition both confident of a win.

It’s a battle between NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu and opposition’s joint candidate Yashwant Sinha.

While the NDA candidate Murmu, former Governor of Jharkhand is likely to have the last laugh, her counterpart Sinha, is undoubtedly a strong candidate with years of experience in administration and politics inter alia his role as finance minister and external Affairs minister of India.

Needless to say, both candidates have travelled across the country in the past few days to garner support for their candidature.

The first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance, Droupadi Murmu continues to break barriers.

Coming from a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances.

She started her political career as Rairangpur NAC vice-chairman. Murmu was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur between 2000 and 2004.

The Odisha assembly honoured her with `Nilakantha Award` for best MLA.

Whereas, 84-year-old Yashwant Sinha, who quit BJP after being apparently sidelined, was a minister of finance between 1990–1991 when PM Chandra Shekhar was in office.

He was again the minister of finance in between March 1998 – July 2002 under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He was also the Minister of External Affairs between July 2002 – May 2004. Sinha was also an IAS officer who spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure.

Worth mentioning here, with many of the regional parties outside NDA-ambit supporting Murmu, the presidential elections may be seen as a background leading to the parliamentary election of 2024 for the BJP.