India Could Have Both Women President And Vice President For The Very First Time

India has had a number of female icons ruling positions of power in the past, who famously shattered glass ceilings, challenged the boys’ clubs and held their own as successful political leaders of India. While we continue to fight for the rights of women, these female leaders otherwise challenged conventional thinking, took risks, and persevered to bring out much-needed reforms. India had had a female prime minister (Indira Gandhi) and president (Pratibha Patil) before, but the vice presidency seat still remained vacant to have led by a female leader. However, the year is 2022 and things might just change for we might have both women president and vice president ruling the seat for the very first time.

The Election Commission on Monday said over 99 per cent of the total 4,796 electors cast their votes in the current presidential poll, while 10 states and the Union Territory of Puducherry recorded a turnout of 100 per cent. Votes will be counted on July 21 and the next President will take oath on July 25. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to cast his vote.

Who are the candidates for the Presidential polls 2022?

The president in India is the head of the state but does not exercise executive powers. The person is elected by the members of both the houses of parliament and of the legislative assemblies of states and federally-administered union territories.

Droupadi Murmu

Murmu, a tribal politician, is the frontrunner in India's presidential election. The candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the 64-year-old former teacher comes from Odisha (Orissa) state and has had a stint as a state governor. She is pitted against the opposition's candidate - veteran politician Yashwant Sinha. Sinha was a senior minister in the BJP government led by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1990s, and early 2000s.

Her political career began in 1997 when she was elected as a councillor in the local polls in Rairangpur. She was often seen personally supervising sanitation work in the town, standing in the sun as drains were cleaned and garbage cleared. As a member of the BJP, she was elected to the state assembly twice - in 2000 and in 2009 - from the Rairangpur seat.

Murmu has also served as the vice-president of the Scheduled Tribes Morcha of the BJP. She is also Jharkhand’s first woman governor and Odisha’s first female tribal leader, elected as governor, in any Indian state.

Margaret Alva

Alva has been a parliamentarian for five terms, served as governor of Rajasthan, Goa, Gujarat and Uttarakhand, and been a Union minister of parliamentary affairs, youth and sports, women and child development, and science and technology. She stands opposite West Bengal’s governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is the nominee of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Suggested Reading: Could Margaret Alva Be India’s First Women Vice President?

From 1974 to 2004, she served in the Indian parliament, where she fought for four significant legislative changes that bolstered women’s rights in India. These changes included giving local governments more authority and allocating a third of local council seats to women.

The Dowry Prohibition Act (Amendment) Committee, the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Committee, the Equal Remuneration Review Committee, and the Joint Select Committee for the 84th Constitution Amendment Bill’s 33 per cent Reservation for Women in Local Bodies were among the significant committees Alva served on during her 30 years in Parliament.

If both female leaders get elected for the presidency, it would only spark positive talk about female leadership in politics and otherwise.