Meet Kovind, India's next President

NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday, became the 14th President of India after a massive win over Opposition's Meira Kumar. Mr. Kovind received a massive 7,02,044 votes,  65.35% per cent in total as opposed to Ms. Kumar' who got 3,67,314.

Kovind's name was not in the initial names that were floating around. Names like Draupadi Murmu and Sushma Swaraj were supposed to be in the running. But always known to spring up surprises, the BJP came up with Kovind's name after a meeting of its Parliamentary Committee today at noon.

Right after the meeting got over, Amit Shah conducted a press briefing and announced the name to the media. Kovind is known to be close to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Born on October 1, 1945 at Kanpur, he holds a Law degree from the Kanpur University.

From his student days, he is known to be a crusader for the voices of backward classes of the society and has served as the President of the BJP Dalit Morcha from 1998 to 2002. An advocate by profession, he was a Rajya Sabha member from state of Uttar Pradesh during the two terms of 1994-2000 and 2000-2006.

Started out as an advocate

In 1971, he enrolled in with the Bar Council of Delhi as an advocate. From 1977 to 1979 he was the Central Government Advocate at the Delhi High Court and then was Central Government Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. He became Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court of India in 1978.

During his days as an advocate, he took a leading role in ensuring that the underprivileged sections of the society get free legal aid. Keeping the requirements of SC/ST women, the needy, and the poor in mind, he established the "Free Legal Aid Society" in Delhi. 

Turned a Parliamentarian in 1994

In 1994, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. He served two consecutive terms from until 2006. He visited various countries including Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom and the USA on study tours during his time as an MP. He has also been a pioneer in spreading education. When was an MP, he helped in construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the M.P.L.A.D Scheme

Shri Ram Nath Kovind has been a pioneer in spreading education. During his parliamentary tenure of 12 years, he emphasized on the development of basic infrastructure for education in rural areas by helping in the construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand under the MP-LAD Scheme.

He also served on the following important Parliamentary Committees:

1. Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes.
2. Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs.
3. Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas.
4. Parliamentary Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment.
5. Parliamentary Committee on Law and Justice.
6. Chairman of Rajya Sabha House Committee.

In August 2015, he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar.