NEW DELHI:
Ram Nath Kovind was sworn-in by the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar as India’s 14th President marking the end of outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee’s term.
President-elect Kovind taken oath at 12.15 pm at the Parliament. A 21-gun salute was be given in his honour.
Ram Nath Kovind, 71, former Governor of Bihar, will be the second Dalit president after KR Narayanan. He is the first President to have been a member of the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Kovind began the day with a visit to Rajghat, where he paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. He then arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where he was greeted by President Mukherjee.
In Parliament, 22 members of Kovind’s family watched him take oath. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Vice-President Hamid Ansari received Kovind and President Mukherjee in Parliament and escorted them to Central Hall. After the ceremony, Pranab Mukherjee gave the new President a tour of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA candidate, was elected as India’s 14th president receiving an overwhelming majority of votes from the country’s lawmakers.
Kovind defeated opposition’s Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker, garnering more than 65 percent of the votes in the Electoral College, the Returning Officer for the poll announced today. The 71-year old, who will be the second Dalit to hold the top constitutional position, received 2930 votes with a value of 702044.
Kovind will be the first BJP member to be elected president. Kumar, also a Dalit, polled in 1844 votes with a value of 367314.
Some 4,800 members of parliament and state assemblies cast votes on Monday to choose between Kovind and Meira Kumar, a former speaker backed by a 17-member bloc of opposition parties. After counting in Parliament House and 11 states, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, 4,79,585 were polled in favour of Kovind and Meira Kumar received 2,0,4594 votes.
Counting began at 11 am with the ballot box of Parliament House being opened first, followed by the ones received from all the states. There will be eight rounds of counting.
The presidential poll on Monday saw nearly 99 per cent voting, the highest ever. Polling was held simultaneously at 32 polling stations — one in Parliament House and one each in 29 state assemblies and two union territories with assemblies.
A total of 4,895 voters — 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs — were eligible to vote. Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra did not cast his vote as he was disqualified by the poll body over the allegations of “paid news”.
While the value of a legislator’s vote depends on the population of the state he or she belongs to, the value of a Member of Parliament’s vote remains the same at 708.
Ram Nath Kovind, 71, is a farmer’s son and his humble origins and simple lifestyle were stressed by BJP leaders. The former Bihar Governor has served two terms as a member of the Rajya Sabha. He is a trained lawyer who has appeared at the High Court and Supreme Court.
Kovind, a Dalit candidate, was seen as a masterstroke to divide the opposition and keep allies together as well as a move to consolidate its growing support among politically vital backward castes. Ram Nath Kovind will be the second Dalit President of India after KR Narayanan.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) broke ranks with the opposition to support for Ram Nath Kovind and the BJP’s partner Shiv Sena, which has in the last two Presidential elections voted against its own alliance, too has supported Kovind.
Kumar’s support to Kovind came as a big blow to the opposition, which had picked the Presidential elections as an occasion to forge an anti-BJP bloc ahead of the 2019 general elections.
