Centre provides Z+ category security to NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu

New Delhi : The Central government has provided round-the-clock ‘Z+’ category armed security cover by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, officials said on Wednesday.

The CRPF has provided the security to Murmu from Wednesday morning following orders received from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday evening, an official, privy to the development, told ANI. The move comes a day after the BJP named former Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu as the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate on Tuesday. If elected, the 64-year-old leader from Odisha will be the first tribal and the second woman to become the President of India.

Murmu, a grassroots politician, has many firsts to her credit. She was the first woman and tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed as governor of any state. She served as the governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021, the first governor to complete the term in the state.

She was also in consideration for the presidential post in 2017 but later Ramnath Kovind made the cut.

Her political career began when she contested and won an election for councillor in Rairangpur, Odisha. She later won the assembly election in 2000 from Rairangpur and became a minister in the BJD-BJP government in the state. She earned great respect in her tenure as an MLA and minister in the state.

The BJP’s move to name Murmu as its presidential candidate comes ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The four states have 128 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, of which the BJP had won just 35 seats in the last assembly elections.