Droupadi Murmu to take oath as India's 15th President today
text_fields
President-elect Droupadi Murmu will take the oath of office of the highest constitutional post in the country on Monday.
The Union Home Ministry said the ceremony will be held at the central hall of Parliament on Monday where Chief Justice of India N V Ramana will administer the oath to her. The President will then deliver an address.
Before the oath ceremony, outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind and President-elect Murmu will arrive in parliament in a ceremonial procession.
Another ceremonial event will be held at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan at 9:42 am. But if it rains, the function will be skipped, according to a statement on the schedule of the oath ceremony.
Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Members of the Council of Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers, heads of diplomatic missions, MPs and principal civil and military officers will attend the oath ceremony.
On Sunday, outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind hosted a dinner for President-elect Murmu, Vice President Naidu, PM Modi and the Union Council of Ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
President-elect Murmu, 64, scripted history on Thursday after defeating opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha to become the first tribal and the second woman to hold the top constitutional post.
Odisha's Rairangpur, the hometown of President-elect Murmu, has been in a celebratory mood since Thursday. People in her village have lined up events today to celebrate her oath ceremony.
President-elect Murmu was the first woman to be sworn in as Jharkhand Governor in 2015.
A two-time BJP MLA from Odisha, the President-elect was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet when the Biju Janata Dal or BJD ruled the state with BJP's support.
She has diverse administrative experience having handled ministries such as transport, commerce, fisheries, and animal husbandry in the Odisha government.
She started her political career as a councillor, later becoming the Vice Chairperson of Rairangpur National Advisory Council.