Droupadi Murmu has been elected India’s 15th president. She will be the first tribal president of the country.

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She is from the Santhal tribe.

Droupadi Murmu married Shyam Charan Murmu in 1980. Shyam Charan was a banker who died in 2014 due to a cardiac arrest. 

Shyam Charan and Murmu had 3 children – Laxman Murmu, Sipun Murmu and Itishree Murmu.

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Laxman Murmu, according to news reports, passed away in 2009 under unknown circumstances. The 25-year-old was discovered in the morning, unconscious in his bed. He was transported to a private facility before being transferred to the Capital Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

Three years later, Sipun Murmu, her second son, was killed in a car accident. The president’s daughter Itishree Murmu works for a bank in Odisha.

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Murmu’s rival candidates for the position of India’s 15th president was Yashwant Sinha, a career bureaucrat who was formerly affiliated with the BJP and later the Trinamool Congress.

The counting of votes took place in Parliament House, under the supervision of Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody.

After the election results were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid Murmu a visit at her temporary residence on Teen Murti Marg to congratulate her.

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Residents in Rairangpur, Odisha, which is also Murmu’s hometown, were found preparing 20,000 sweets to celebrate. A tribal dance and victory procession were also on the agenda.

The new Indian President will be sworn in on July 25. On June 24, President Ram Nath Kovind will step down. Kovind was India’s first Dalit president.