Ram Nath Kovind is India’s 14th President

Kovind assumed the country’s highest constitutional post on July 25 after current President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ended.

Former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind was recently elected as the 14th President of India after counting was conducted for the election which took place earlier this week.

Kovind, the NDA candidate, got more than seven lakh votes as compared to Meira Kumar, who crossed the three-lakh mark.

Kovind assumed the country’s highest constitutional post on July 25 after current President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ended.

In a surprise move, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had announced Kovind as their Presidential candidate on June 19.

His candidature was unexpected given that several other names including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu were doing the rounds before the announcement.

While filing his nomination, Kovind stated that “It is my belief that the post of the president is above party politics and I will strive to keep it so”.

Underlining his agenda, he had said that he would work for the country’s “all-round development, fulfilment of youths’ aspirations and encouragement to modern education”.

In one of his statements, he also said that “I will strive to see to it that the dream to build a new India which is developing continuously when we celebrate 75 years of independence in 2022 is fulfilled,”

How was he elected?

The President was chosen by an Electoral College comprising 776 MPS and more than 4,000 MLAs. Since BJP (which leads the NDA), has most MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and rules more states than any opposition parties, Kovind’s victory was expected.

All parties of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had committed to vote for Kovind.

In addition, the 71-year-old former Supreme Court advocate also received crucial support from several non-NDA parties such as the Janata Dal (United) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and both factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.