Ram Nath Kovind Will Take Oath As 14th President Of India On July 25
Ram Nath Kovind, a candidate backed by India's ruling coalition, won the presidential election on Thursday, tightening the governing alliance's hold over positions of power.
Votes from 4,896 lawmakers in state assemblies and parliament were counted in parliament to elect the constitutional head, a largely ceremonial post.
"Kovind has secured a clear majority," an election official told Reuters.
Kovind, 71, a low-caste Dalit politician with Hindu nationalist roots, beat Meira Kumar, also a Dalit, backed by the centrist Congress party.
The government-backed candidate won two-third of the votes cast by an electoral college of MPs and state lawmakers. Flowers and extra security had arrived at the former Bihar governor's home in Delhi long before the official announcement and sweets were passed around at his hometown in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Kovind, 71, will be sworn in on July 25. "It is a great responsibility, my job will be to uphold and protect the Constitution. My election to this post is a sign of the greatness of India's democracy," Mr Kovind said after the results showed him take an unassailable lead over Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.
Ram Nath Kovind, a candidate backed by India's ruling coalition, won the presidential election on Thursday, tightening the governing alliance's hold over positions of power.
Votes from 4,896 lawmakers in state assemblies and parliament were counted in parliament to elect the constitutional head, a largely ceremonial post.
"Kovind has secured a clear majority," an election official told Reuters.
Kovind, 71, a low-caste Dalit politician with Hindu nationalist roots, beat Meira Kumar, also a Dalit, backed by the centrist Congress party.
The government-backed candidate won two-third of the votes cast by an electoral college of MPs and state lawmakers. Flowers and extra security had arrived at the former Bihar governor's home in Delhi long before the official announcement and sweets were passed around at his hometown in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Kovind, 71, will be sworn in on July 25. "It is a great responsibility, my job will be to uphold and protect the Constitution. My election to this post is a sign of the greatness of India's democracy," Mr Kovind said after the results showed him take an unassailable lead over Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.
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