The BJP parliamentary board after consultation with the other parties of NDA on Tuesday named the party’s tribal leader Draupadi Murmu from Odisha, as the NDA’s candidate for the forthcoming presidential election.

The poll for president post is scheduled for July 18 next.

BJP president J P Nadda announced her name in a press conference.

Murmu (64) was former governor of Jharkhand and has won the Neelkanth Award for best MLA in 2007 of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Earlier the UPA announced Yashwant Sinha as its joint candidate for the post.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted “Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised. She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure. I am confident she will be a great President of our nation”.