NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind defeated rival Meira Kumar, to win the presidential election. After establishing a massive lead of over two lakh in vote value over the UPA rival, he won with 65.65 percent of votes from the electoral college. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him and spoke of his long association with the President-elect. “Gladdened by the extensive support for Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji among MPs & across various states,” the PM tweeted.
BJP president Amit Shah said, “Congratulations to Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji for emphatic victory in the 2017 Presidential elections. His victory is truly historic.” Returning officer for the Presidential election 2017, Anoop Mishra informed, “Kovind secured 2930 votes with a value of 7,02,044. Meira Kumar got 1844 votes with the value of 3,67,314, and 77 votes were invalid.” The victory was predicted as as many as 40 parties, including those from outside the NDA fold, had pledged to support him. He was anticipated to win more than 60 per cent of the votes. The Presidential polls were held last week and had seen close to 100 per cent polling. Over all, 771 members of Parliament and 4109 legislators were eligible to cast votes.
Kovind, a lawyer by profession had worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He has served as the national spokesperson of the party. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh during two terms of 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. The 71 year old had also represented in United Nations (New York) and addressed the UN General Assembly in October, 2002.
