Droupadi Murmu Wins Easily Over Yashwant Sinha?

On Monday, India will elect its 15th president. Droupadi Murmu, backed by the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), seems to be headed for a comfortable win with numbers in her favour.

Challenging her is the opposition's pick - Yashwant Sinha - who had quit the BJP in 2018. Murmu, if elected, would be India's first tribal woman president.

Below are 5 points on presidential elections in India:

1. Droupadi Murmu, who served as the Jharkhand governor earlier, has received support from unlikely quarters over the past month since her candidature was announced. Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, despite the fall of Maharashtra government and differences with the BJP, has said it would back Murmu.

2. Soon after her candidature was announced, the BJD, the YSRCP, and the AIADMK announced their support for her, making it easy for Murmu to edge past Sinha.

3. With the NDA having 49% or 5,32,351 of the 1086431 votes, support from a few quarters would have been enough for Murmu.

4. Last week, Congress ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) became the latest non-NDA ally to announce it would vote for Murmu in the 2022 presidential elections.

5. Sinha, who was with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congrees, was picked as opposition's candidate after Farooq Abdullah, Sharad Pawar and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Gopakrishna Gandhi, refused to run for the post.

The 15th president of India will take oath on July 25.