New Delhi: As the Presidential elections in 2022 in India are near, the spotlight is on the two prime candidates- Droupadi Murmu and Yashwant Sinha. After much deliberations, both NDA and the opposition had proposed the name of this term’s presidential candidates. NDA’s candidate Droupadi Murmu, a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister will face the opposition’s joint candidate Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP leader and a former finance minister who quit the saffron party several years ago after being apparently sidelined to join Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Before Sinha, names of veteran leaders like NCP chief Sharad Pawar, ex-Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah and former Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The election for the Presidential throne will be held on July 18.
As both the candidates are set to face each other in Presidential Election in 2022, here is a look at the political portfolio of Droupadi Murmu and Yashwant Sinha.
Drupadi Murmu
Droupadi Murmu is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance, who belongs to a tribal caste. She was the first woman governor of Jharkhand and served from 2015 to 2021.
Coming from a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances. She taught at Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Rairangpur. Born on June 20, 1958, she pursued BA at Ramadevi Women`s College Bhubaneswar.
Political career
Murmu began her political career as Rairangpur NAC vice-chairman. Murmu was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur between 2000 and 2004. During her course as a minister, Murmu held portfolios of Transport and Commerce, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. She again served as MLA in the Odisha assembly from 2004 to 2009. In 2007, the Odisha assembly honoured her with the `Nilakantha Award for best MLA.
She served as a junior assistant in Irrigation and Power Department between 1979 and 1983. She has held several organisational posts in BJP and was vice president of state ST Morcha in 1997. Murmu was a national executive member of BJP`s ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013.
Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP`s ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009.
Yashwant Sinha’s political career
Yashwant Sinha, 84, who quit BJP to join Trinamool Congress, 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 the Minister of External Affairs between July 2002 – May 2004.
He joined All India Trinamool Congress on March 13, 2021, He finally left All India Trinamool Congress on June 21, 2022, for being the joint opposition Presidential Candidate. Sinha was an IAS officer, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure.