Hindutva loyalist Kovind will assume President’s Office on July 25.

RSS man Ram Nath Kovind elected as India’s 14th President.

Tridev Chaudhury | HENB | New Delhi | July 20, 2017:: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday defeated former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar in the presidential polls by a huge margin of votes to become India’s 14th president. Kovind was the Governor of Bihar before becoming President of India.

An ex BJP National spokesperson and leader in its Dalit and SC/ST Morcha, Kovind is known for his profound Hindutva legacy and strong RSS connection.

Kovind secured a total of 2,930 votes, carrying a value of 7,00,244, while the former speaker got 1,844 votes with a value of 3,67,314 in a straight fight.

Declaring the result, Returning Officer and Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra said Kovind had got the required votes under the quota allotted to him in the transferable vote system under the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act.

Kovind got 65.65 percent of the total valid vote value of 10,69,358, Meira Kumar got 34.35 percent.

“I declare Ram Nath Kovind as duly elected to the Office of President,” Mishra said.

President Elect Kovind  holds a Bachelors degree in commerce and a LLB. He cleared IAS exam in 1976 but joined in his legal profession in 1977 in Delhi High Court and afterwards in Supreme Court also for about 16 years until 1993. He joined the BJP in 1991. He was President of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002.

In 2010, Kovind, as spokesperson of the BJP, courted controversy by saying that Islam and Christianity were alien to India.He made this comment in response to the report of Ranganath Misra Commission which recommended 15 percent reservation for religious and linguistic minorities in government jobs.

As a Hindutva and BJP loyalist Kovind is associated with various philanthropic organisations. He is certainly an RSS favourite who believes in ‘Sewa, Sadhana & Sambodhi’+.  Nagpur is now well connected with New Delhi with a Hindutva hotline.

Ram Nath Kovind  will assume the office of the President of India on 25 July 2017.

__Agencies.