Ram Nath Kovind will be the Indian’s next President of the country following in the footsteps of incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee. Kovind (71), who was nominated by the BJP-led NDA, won the Presidential contest beating Meira Kumar, the Opposition candidate, scoring two-thirds of the total votes cast.
At the end of counting on Thursday, Kovind had scored more than 7 lakh votes indicating about 65 per cent of the votes cast while Kumar lagged far behind with just 3.6 lakh votes. Kovind, a BJP leader who has served as a Rajya Sabha MP and later was appointed the Governor of Bihar, will be the second Dalit President of the country after KR Narayanan. He is also the first BJP leader to be elected to the highest office of the land.
“This is an emotional moment for me today,” said Kovind in his first remarks to the press at his official residence. “This responsibility being given to me is a message to every person in the country who fulfils his responsibilities with honesty.”