Ram Nath Kovind is new President of India

New Delhi, (Compiled fromthe Hindu/Hindustan times), Jul 20, 2017 -     Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday was elected India’s 14th President. He defeated Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.   
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee received an overwhelming majority of votes from the country’s lawmakers.   

Mr. Kovind defeated Opposition candidate and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, garnering more than 65 per cent of the votes in the Electoral College, the Returning Officer for the presidential election Anoop Mishra announced.    The 71-year-old former Governor of Bihar, who will be the second Dalit to hold the top constitutional position, received 2930 votes with a value of 702,044, Mr. Mishra said.   

In an electoral college of 4,986 voters with a vote value of 10,98,903, Kovind received 2,930 votes , while the former Lok Sabha Speaker secured 1,844 votes.    While Kovind got 65.65% of the total valid vote value of 1,069,358, Meira Kumar got 34.35%.