Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu to be the next President of India?

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Delhi: The BJP-led NDA may throw a surprise candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections.

As per media reports, Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu is one of the candidates that the ruling party may be considering.

The tribal leader is the first woman Governor of Jharkhand and assumed office on May 18, 2015.

She is a two-time BJP MLA from Odisha and was head of party's Mayurbhanj district unit in the state.

During coalition government of Biju Janata Dal and BJP in Odisha, Murmu was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik Cabinet.

Murmu started her career began in 1997 when she became a councillor. 

No tribal has been elected President before.

The other likely contenders, the names of whom are doing the round, are - BJP patriarch LK Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

The incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee's term will expire on 25 July 2017.