<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A 64-year-old former school teacher in India scripted history on Thursday by being the youngest and first tribal politician to win the presidency.&nbsp;</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Droupadi Murmu, a former state governor who was fielded by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, defeated her main challenger and opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, a former finance minister, by a huge margin.</div><div><br></div><div>Murmu is slated to take oath of office on July 25, replacing incumbent head of state Ram Nath Kovind whose five-year tenure ends a day before.</div><div><br></div><div>Voting to elect India's 15th President was held on Monday, where more than 95% of the eligible 4,500-plus lawmakers across the country exercised their franchise.</div><div><br></div><div>In India, the President is elected not directly by the people but by the members of both Houses of Parliament -- the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha -- and state assemblies and federal government-ruled Territories.</div><div><br></div><div>Like in Bangladesh, the Indian President is the ceremonial head of state who does not exercise executive powers.</div><div><br></div><div>Who's Murmu?</div><div><br></div><div>Born in independent India on June 20 in 1958, Murmu completed her graduation in 1979 and began her career as a government employee before becoming a school teacher.</div><div><br></div><div>She subsequently made a foray into the eastern Indian state of Odisha's politics, first as a local civic body councillor and then as a legislator.</div><div><br></div><div>The two-term legislator went on to become a minister in the Odisha government in 2000. And some 15 years later, Murmu was sworn in as the first woman Governor of the neighbouring eastern state of Jharkhand.</div><div><br></div><div>In her personal life, Murmu lost her husband and their two sons. While her husband died of a cardiac arrest, one of her two sons was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2009. She has a daughter. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>