KOVIND IS PREZ WITH 65% VOTES
Says he represents many Kovinds
The NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind was on Thursday declared elected the 14th President of India. Mr Kovind trounced his rival and Opposition candidate Meira Kumar by securing 65.65 per cent of the votes.
Mr Kovind will be the second Dalit President, after K.R. Narayanan, and the first former BJP member to hold the office of the President. He will be sworn in on July 25.
Ms Kumar, who promised to “continue the ideological battle” after the results were announced, lagged far behind with 34.35 per cent votes.
On hearing of his victory, Mr Kovind, whose selection had surprised many even within the BJP, said that it was an “emotional moment”.
Reminiscing on his journey thus far, which will culminate in Rashtrpati Bhavan, Mr Kovind recalled the time when the thatched roof of his mud hut would leak. “Today there are many Ram Nath Kovinds who are getting drenched in the rain, working hard, toiling in the fields for one square meal in the evening,” he said.
The President-elect said he would be their “representative in the Rashtrapati Bhavan”.
In five days, Mr Kovind will move into the five-acre presidential palace built on the 330-acre estate in the heart of the national capital.
BJP chief Amit Shah hailed Mr Kovind’s victory as “historic”.
New Delhi, July 20: Ram Nath Kovind’s triumph was a foregone conclusion given the NDA’s numerical superiority over the opposition, but his presidential bid got a push with lawmakers from rival parties cross-voting for him in several states including poll-bound Gujarat and Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal.
BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, Kovind’s key election manager, claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties, including the Congress, appeared to have voted for the NDA candidate.
The 71-year-old Kovind defeated joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, after garnering 65.65 percent of the votes in the electoral college.
A former Bihar governor, Kovind received 2930 votes with a value of 7,02,044, said election returning officer Anoop Mishra. Kumar got 1844 votes with a value of 3,67,314.
The states from where Kovind got votes from the rival camp included West Bengal, where the BJP is locked in a bitter, and often bloody, fight with the ruling Trinamul. Kovind clinched the votes of 11 MLAs in the state, five more than NDA’s tally of six.
He also managed to secure votes of seven lawmakers in the Left-ruled Tripura, where BJP or its NDA allies do not have any MLA. These included six TMC MLAs who are likely to join the BJP.
The Congress has much to worry about Gujarat where Assembly elections are due later this year, with at least eight of its MLAs appeared to have voted for the NDA’s candidate. The party has 57 MLAs in the state but Meira Kumar got only 49 votes.
In Maharashtra, the NDA nominee got 20 votes more than the alliance’s strength of 188 in the state assembly.
Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are among other states that witnessed cross-voting in Kovind’s favour. — PTI