President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday addressed the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and congratulated all newly-elected MPs, post the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha began on Monday and the 264th session of the Rajya Sabha will begin on June 27.
“I congratulate all the newly-elected members of the 18th Lok Sabha. You all have come here by winning the trust of the country’s voters. Very few get this opportunity to serve the nation and the people. I have full faith that you would fulfil your duties with a feeling of the nation first,” President Murmu said as she addressed the House.
The President reached the Parliament in a procession from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, escorted by the horse-mounted presidential bodyguards.
She was received by Prime Minister Modi and the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha at the Gaja Dwar of the Parliament building from where she was escorted to the Lower House chamber with the traditional sceptre ‘Sengol’ in the lead.
Speaking of the Lok Sabha elections in the House, the President said, “On behalf of crores of countrymen, I would like to express gratitude to the Election Commission of India. This was the biggest election in the world.”
“Decades-long records of voting have been broken in Jammu and Kashmir. For the past four decades, Kashmir has witnessed low voting amid shutdowns and strikes. India’s enemies propagated it as the opinion of Kashmir, on international forums. But this time, the Kashmir valley gave a befitting reply to all such forces,” the President said.
