New Delhi
Constitutional heads, Union Ministers, politicians and also religious leaders made a beeline on Friday to meet and congratulate President-elect Droupadi Murmu
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav and G Kishan Reddy besides BJP leader Vinod Tawde and functionaries of spiritual organisation Brahma Kumaris visited Murmu’s temporary residence here to wish her.
It was Brahma Kumaris with which Murmu got associated and came out of her brief bout of depression following the death of her son in 2009.
Vice President Naidu met Murmu and congratulated her on being elected as the 15th President of India, a tweet by his office said. The meeting lasted for 15 minutes.
On Thursday, soon after the results were out after the third round which confirmed Murmu crossing the required halfway mark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to visit Murmu’s residence and present her with a bouquet. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Arjun Munda and Kiren Rijiju among others followed.
The Election Commission issued a ‘certificate of election’ to Murmu. The certificate is issued after the returning officer hands over the result to the poll panel.
“CEC Shri Rajiv Kumar & EC Shri Anup Chandra Pandey jointly signed the ‘Certification of the Election of Shrimati Droupadi Murmu as the next President of India’ after ECI received the Return of Election & a Declaration of Result of election from the Returning Officer,” the Election Commission tweeted.
The certificate will now be sent to the Union Home Secretary, who will read it out at the oath-taking ceremony of the 15th President of India which is likely to take place at the historic Central Hall of Parliament House on July 25.
For its part, the Personnel Ministry directed a partial closure of certain government offices due to the swearing-in ceremony of the 15th President of India. The construction work of new Parliament building also needs to be kept stopped during the time of ceremony, it said.
A total of 30 offices are required to be vacated by 6 AM on July 25, for carrying out anti-sabotage check, according to the Ministry’s order issued order to all central government departments/ministries. This exercise will continue till the ceremony is over, it said.
The buildings that would be vacated early include South Block, North Block, Rail Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Sanchar Bhawan, Press Trust of India (PTI) Building, Sena Bhawan, Vayu Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan and Nirman Bhawan among others. These buildings would remain closed on July 25 from 6 AM to 2 PM.
“Further, construction work of New Parliament Building, at present in progress, also needs to be kept stopped during the time of ceremony,” the order said.
