Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA candidate, will be India's 14th President. Kovind convincingly defeated opposition's Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, winning more than 65% of the votes in the Electoral College, the Returning Officer for the poll announced today.
Kovind, 71, was a Dalit leader from Kanpur. He was previously elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. He used to practice as a Supreme Court lawyer.
Here is all that you need to know about him.
Kovind was elected to Rajya Sabha from the state of Uttar Pradesh for two terms—1994 to 2000 and 2000 to 2006.
He is a former president of the BJP Dalit Morcha (1998-2002) and President of the All-India Koli Samaj.
He also served as the national spokesperson of the BJP, which appointed him the governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015.
Kovind served as member of the board of management of BR Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He also worked as a member of board of governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
Kovind represented India in United Nations (New York) and addressed the UN General Assembly in October, 2002.
Kovind married Savita Kovind on May 30, 1974 and has two children, a son Prashant Kumar and a daughter Swati.
