Days ahead of the Presidential polls, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi national president Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday urged Opposition's candidate Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the race and said that many "Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members" from across the parties have lent their support in favour of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.
The voting for the presidential polls is slated to take place on Monday while the counting of votes will take place on Thursday.
"Requesting Mr Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the Presidential race because many Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members from across the parties are joining to vote in favour of Madam Droupadi Murmu," Ambedkar tweeted.
Notably, various parties have extended their support to the NDA candidate including Congress ally Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and RJD ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav has also extended his support to Murmu.
YSR Congress Party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Shiromani Akali Dal have already extended their support to Murmu.
Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister. If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second woman President. Born in a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances.
Murmu is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance.
Murmu filed her nomination papers at the Parliament Library Building in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed her name for the nomination, which was seconded by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Born in a poor tribal family in a village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Droupadi 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.She started her political career as Rairangpur NAC vice-chairman. Droupadi Murmu was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur between 2000 and 2004. As a minister, she held portfolios of Transport and Commerce, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. She again served as MLA in the Odisha assembly from 2004 to 2009.
( With inputs from ANI )
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