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National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the presidential polls, Droupadi Murmu, said tribal comunities are excited by her selection as a nominee for the top constitutional post and promised not to let the country or the office down.

“There are around 10 crore tribals with more than 700 communities, and all are delighted with my nomination,” said Murmu, who could become the first tribal woman to be elected as the President of India.

Addressing a meeting of NDA MPs, Murmu said, “I am thankful to the NDA leadership and all political parties who have supported me and given me this honour. You all have chosen me for a very important responsibility and I will work to strengthen the country’s democratic values.”

Elaborate arrangements were underway for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to inaugurate Bundelkhand Expressway in Jalaun on Saturday under which around five km area of the venue has been taken in the security cordon. The foundation stone of the four-lane expressway, which will connect Chitrakoot with the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, was laid by Modi in February 2020.

The project, which took 28 months to complete, has been marked as a star-studded achievement of the ‘double-engine government’ in UP. All about the inauguration and project:

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition have not yet announced their vice presidential candidate, the election for which is scheduled to be held on August 6. The nomination process for the same started on July 5 and July 19 is the last date for filing nominations.

Sources said that the BJP's parliamentary board will be meeting soon to finalise the name. It will also seek the support of other parties since it is anticipating that the Opposition will mount a contest.

However, it is still unclear when the bigwigs in the Opposition would clear a name for the vice-presidential candidate or when a meeting will be held in the national capital. Sharad Pawar is visiting Delhi on July 17. Rahul Gandhi is also abroad and will arrive here by Sunday night.

Former finance minister and Indian-origin Rishi Sunak won the biggest backing from Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday in the first vote to choose who will succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and British prime minister, while two more rivals were eliminated. Sunak, whose resignation as finance minister last week helped precipitate Johnson`s fall, secured support from 88 of the party`s 358 Members of Parliament (MPs), with junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt second with 67 votes and foreign minister Liz Truss third with 50.

Nadhim Zahawi, who took over as finance minister from Sunak last week, and former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt were knocked out after failing to get the required minimum of 30 votes. They join three other contenders who dropped out the day before.

A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'population imbalance' remark, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims were the ones using most contraceptives.

"Are Muslims not natives of India? If we see the reality, natives are only tribals and Dravidian people. In Uttar Pradesh, without any law, desired fertility rate would be achieved by 2026-2030," Mr Owaisi said to ANI today on Adityanath's statement.

Owaisi added, "Their own Health Minister said that no law is needed in the country for population control. It's Muslims who're using most contraceptives. The total fertility rate which was 2.6 in 2016 is now 2.3. Country's demographic dividend is the best among all countries."