By Muhammad Luqman
National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind has been declared as the 14th President of India.
The presidential election on July 17 saw close to 100 percent polling. A total of 771 members of Parliament and 4,109 legislators were eligible to cast votes. Kovind defeated Opposition alliance’s Meira Kumar , the former speaker of Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament.
The two nominees were from the Dalit community and had canvassed hard by visiting states to seek support of legislators.
A lawyer by profession, Kovind has worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Kovind has been the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and the President of the All-India Koli Samaj.
Kovind was enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the Bar Council of Delhi. He became the Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court in 1978 and practised in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years till 1993.
He was appointed as the Governor of Bihar on August 8, 2015. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh during the two terms of 1994-2000 and 2000-2006.
Ram Nath Kovind is replacing President Pranab Mukharji whose term is expiring next week.
