NDA’s Kovind India’s President
Former Bihar governor wins with 66% votes, promises to work for ‘all those struggling to make a living’
NEW DELHI: Ram Nath Kovind, a former Bihar governor and an old BJP hand, was elected India’s 14th President as he swept the election with nearly two-thirds of the votes on Thursday.
The 71-year-old Presidentelect will be the second Dalit after Kocheril Raman Narayanan, the 10th President, for a five-year term at Rastrapati Bhavan, the country’s highest office.
The NDA candidate, supported by 40 political parties, secured 702,044 or 65.65% votes in the election that the opposition parties called an ideological battle. The opposition’s choice, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, got 367,314 of the votes.
Kovind got more votes than Kumar in 21 states, including her home state Bihar, and in both Houses of Parliament.
Kovind from Uttar Pradesh’s Paraunkh village recalled his impoverished childhood after the results were declared.
“Today it rained in Delhi, reminding me of the monsoon of my childhood. We had a kuccha house and the roof leaked … We, the siblings, stood against the wall and waited for the rain to end.” He thanked the nation for showing its “enormous love” to the NDA” and pledged to represent “all those struggling to make a living”.
The understated politician is the first from Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous and politically significant state, to be elected to India’s highest office.
It was almost a one-sided contest as Kovind managed to win over parties such as Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and the AIADMK in the run-up to the July 17 election.
This is the first time the BJP managed to elect its own leader since the party was formed in 1980. Before his name was announced by BJP chief Amit Shah a month ago, Kovind was nowhere in the realm of speculation on possible NDA candidates.
On Thursday, the unassuming BJP leader and two-time Rajya Sabha member, won the prestigious battle amid crossvoting favouring the ruling dispensation. Kovind’s candidature was seen as the BJP’s effort to widen its support base ahead of the 2019 general elections.
He will enter Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 25.
The Congress-led opposition’s nominee, Kumar, managed to secure the highest share of votes as runner-up in 48 years of the presidential election.
Only Kota Subbarao in 1962 and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy in 1969 got higher vote shares than Kumar.