India's parliamentarians have elected a woman president for the second time in the country's history.

The 64-year-old Draupadi Murmu of the Hindu nationalist ruling party BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had secured more than half the votes of the almost 5,000 deputies in the state and national parliaments by late Thursday evening (local time), said an employee of the electoral commission.

The official announcement of the election results was still pending.

Modi congratulated Murmu on her election victory.

"She is a ray of hope for our citizens, especially the poor, the disadvantaged and the neglected," he wrote on Twitter.

Indigenous people are often poor and marginalized

Murmu is ethnically one of India's indigenous people.

Indigenous people make up a good 8.6 percent of India's population of around 1.3 billion people.

She is the first indigenous woman to hold the highest office in India.

The head of state fulfills - similar to the German Federal President - above all representative tasks, the power lies with the Prime Minister.

The President is elected every five years.

Murmu was a former teacher and then governor of the state of Jharkhand.

As governor, she campaigned, among other things, for the rights of India's indigenous people.

Indigenous people in the country are often poor and marginalized - even if, among other things, some positions in the government are earmarked for the ethnic group.

Traditionally, they dwell in or near forests, where they subsist as hunter-gatherers.

Many are also active as farmers.

The previous president also belonged to a marginalized population group: Ram Nath Kovind is a Dalit, i.e. a member of the lowest level of the caste system who used to be considered “untouchables”.

The situation of the Dalits has changed little during his presidency.

Dalits continue to experience much discrimination in India.

In terms of foreign policy, India is currently viewed critically, especially by the West, since the country has not yet publicly condemned Russia's war in Ukraine and even abstained from Russian aggression in the United Nations Security Council.

The country occupies a middle position, benefiting from new cheap oil supplies from Moscow.