Ram Nath Kovind

**Ram Nath Kovind** (born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician. Kovind became the 14th President of India upon winning the 2017 presidential election in July 2017. He was the second president to have been a Dalit leader and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017. He served as Member of Parliament from 1994 through 2006. Ram Nath Kovind is also prez candidate of NDA.

In June 2017, he won the nomination of the Bharatiya Janata Party for President of India in the 2017 Indian presidential election. After winning the nomination, he resigned from his post as Governor of Bihar, and President of India Pranab Mukherjee accepted his resignation on 20 June 2017. According to polling after voting was closed on 17 July 2017, Kovind was expected to win the presidency with a voting outcome of 99%. Kovind was declared as the winner after the counting of votes held on 20 July 2017.

## Early life

Kovind was born into a scheduled caste (Kori community), (Hindu Family), in Parakh Kanpur, Dehat District, Uttar Pradesh.

His father Maikulal Kori was a local vadiya, who operated a grocery store. His mother was Kalawati who died when he was very young.

Kovind has 4 brothers and 3 sisters and he is the youngest amongst all of them.

Kovind grew up in humble circumstances in a small agrarian village where his father farmed.  After earning degrees in commerce and law from Kanpur University, he moved to Delhi in order to take the civil services examination. Although he passed, Kovind chose to begin practicing law and was admitted to the bar in 1971.

### BJP member

He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1991. He was President of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002 and President of the All-India Koli Samaj. He also served as national spokesperson of the party. He donated his ancestral home in Derapur to the RSS. He contested from Ghatampur and Bhognipur (both in UP) assembly constituencies on the BJP ticket but lost both elections.

### Rajya Sabha (1994–2006)

He was elected and became a Rajya Sabha MP from the state of Uttar Pradesh in April 1994. He served a total of twelve years, two consecutive terms, until March 2006. As a member of parliament, he visited Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom and the United States on study tours.

### Governor of Bihar (2015–2017)

On 8 August 2015, the President of India appointed Kovind as Governor of Bihar. On 16 August 2015, the acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Iqbal Ahmad Ansari, administered the oath to Kovind as the 36th Governor of Bihar.

As Governor, he was praised for constituting a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mis-management of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.

Kovind resigned as Governor on 20 June 2017 to peruse his campaign for President of India in the 2017 presidential election.

### 2017 presidential campaign

Kovind was nominated for the President of India for the Bharatiya Janata Party in June 2017 which led to his resignation as Governor of Bihar. His opponent was former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for the Indian National Congress.

After voting ended on 17 July 2017. Kovind was declared as the winner after the counting of votes held on 20 July 2017.

Kovind secured roughly two-thirds of the votes from the electoral college of elected members of federal, state and union territory legislatures and was elected to a five-year term as President.

### Tenure

Kovind was sworn-in as President of India on 25 July 2017.

## Personal life

Kovind married Savita Kovind in 1974. They have a son named Prashant Kumar, and a daughter, Swati Kovind.

## References

प्रेरणादायक जीवनी -रामनाथ कोविन्द

## Other websites

- Ram Nath Kovind will win comfortably: BJP at Times of India

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: His Excellency
- **name**: Ram Nath Kovind
- **image**: Ram Nath Kovind official portrait.jpg
- **birth place**: Village Paraunkh, Derapur, United Provinces (1937–50), United Provinces, British Raj, British India (now in Uttar Pradesh, India)
- **office**: List of Presidents of India, 14th President of India
- **term start**: 25  July 2017
- **term end**: 25 July 2022
- **primeminister**: Narendra Modi
- **vicepresident**: Venkaiah Naidu
Mohammad Hamid Ansari
- **predecessor**: Pranab Mukherjee
- **successor**: Droupadi Murmu
- **office1**: 35th Governor of Bihar
- **term start1**: 16 August 2015
- **term end1**: 20 June 2017
- **predecessor1**: Keshari Nath Tripathi
- **successor1**: Keshari Nath Tripathi
- **office2**: Member of Parliament
- **term start2**: 3 April 1994
- **term end2**: 2 April 2006
- **spouse**: Savita Kovind (m. 1974)
- **parents**: Maiku Lal
Kalawati
- **children**: Prashant Kumar
Swati
- **alma mater**: Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur University
- **party**: Bharatiya Janata Party
- **native name lang**: hi