The swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Droupadi Murmu will be held at Central Hall of Parliament on Monday. She will take an oath as the 15th President of India. Ms Murmu is the first tribal who will hold the country’s top constitutional post. Droupadi Murmu, the NDA’s presidential candidate, was elected President, defeating Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha.
In view of the swearing-in ceremony, the Department of Personnel and Training has issued orders directing partial closure of certain Central government offices. The construction work of the new Parliament building also needs to be kept on hold during the time of the ceremony. As per the order, a total of 30 offices and buildings are required to be vacated by 6 AM on Monday for carrying out an anti-sabotage check. This exercise will continue till the ceremony is over.The buildings that would be vacated early include South Block, North Block, Rail Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Sanchar Bhawan, PTI Building, AIR, Sena Bhawan, Vayu Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan and Nirman Bhawan among others. These buildings would remain closed from 6 AM to 2 PM on 25th July.
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new President, Parliament will host a farewell to the outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind in the Central Hall tomorrow evening. On Sunday, President Kovind will deliver his farewell address to the nation.
Indiablooms adds:
The rift in Opposition was exposed Thursday when several MPs and MLAs cross-voted in favour of the BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
Many politicians defied the stated position of their parties in electing the 15th President of India, voting against the Opposition’s consensus candidate – Yashwant Sinha.
The massive victory achieved by Droupadi Murmu undermined the possibility of a larger political front forming against the Modi government in the future.
The counting of votes suggested that as many as 17 MPs and around 120 MLAs across various state assemblies cross-voted in favour of Murmu.
The states where the maximum number of MLAs cross-voted have been- Assam (22), Madhya Pradesh (19), Maharashtra (16), Uttar Pradesh (12), Gujarat (10), Jharkhand (10), Bihar and Chhattisgarh (6 each), Rajasthan (5) and Goa (4).
Many non-NDA parties also extended support to Murmu primarily for two reasons- first due to her tribal identity and second the winnability factor associated with her from the beginning.
