5 things you should know about the next President of India, Ram Nath Kovind
NEW DELHI, Jul 21, 2017: On July 20, India got its 14th President after NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind defeated UPA's Meira Kumar by a huge margin.
While Kovind got 65.65 per cent of the total valid vote value of 10,69,358, Meira Kumar got 34.35 per cent.
ALSO READ: Ram Nath Kovind becomes 14th President of India
Here are 5 things you should know about the 14th President-Elect of India
>> Ram Nath Kovind was born on 1 October 1945 in Paraukh village in the Kanpur Dehat district, Uttar Pradesh. He is another leader who belonged to a humble background. His father Maikulal was a landless Kori (a Dalit weaving community) who ran a small shop to support his family.
>> He holds a Bachelors degree in commerce and a LLB from DAV College, (affiliated with Kanpur University). After graduating in law, Kovind went to Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. He passed this exam on his third attempt, but he did not join as he was selected for an allied service instead of IAS and thus started practicing law.
>> He was Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and served as a Central Government standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years until 1993.
>> Kovind is known to many as an advocate who champion the rights of women. As an advocate, he provided free legal aid to weaker sections of society, women and the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society in New Delhi.
>> He had also served as the personal assistant of former Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai in 1977-1978. He has held many posts during the last two decades — He was President BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002, he was also national spokesperson of the BJP. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh for 12 years from 1994 till 2006. On 8 August 2015, the President of India appointed Kovind as Governor of Bihar.
Compiled by TNT Desk
