Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, was on Tuesday named the ruling NDA’s candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election.

If elected, Murmu would become the first tribal President and second female President of India.

Hailing from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, Murmu started out as a teacher before entering state politics.

She has been an MLA twice, on BJP ticket, from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009).

Murmu was first considered a contender five years ago, when President Pranab Mukherjee was set to leave Rashtrapati Bhavan

In 2000, she held the Commerce and Transport, and, subsequently, the Fisheries and Animal Husbandry portfolios.

In 2015, Murmu was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand.

Murmu served as councillor in the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, after winning elections in 1997, and as vice-president of the BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha.