Kovind was born to Maiku Lal and Kalawati in aKoli family during theBritish Raj on 1 October 1945, in Paraunkh village in theKanpur Dehat district ofUttar Pradesh,[5][6] as the youngest of five brothers and two sisters.[7][8] His father Maikulal ran a shop and was also a farmer and a localvaidya (doctor).[9] His mother Kalawati was a homemaker.[10] Kovind was born in a mud hut, which eventually collapsed.[11][12][13] He was only five when his mother died of burns when their thatched dwelling caught fire. Kovind later donated the land to the community.[14]
After his elementary school education, he needed to walk each day to Kanpur village, 8 km (5.0 mi) away, to attend junior school, as nobody in the village had a bicycle.[15] He holds abachelor's degree incommerce and anLLB fromDAV College (affiliated withKanpur University).[16][17][18]
After graduating in law fromDAV College, Kanpur, Kovind went toDelhi to prepare for the civil services examination. He passed this exam on his third attempt, He scored high enough to work in an allied service rather than inIAS and thus started practising law.[19]
Kovind enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the bar council ofDelhi. He was Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979. Between 1977 and 1978, he also served as the personal assistant ofPrime Minister of IndiaMorarji Desai.[20] In 1978, he became an advocate-on-record of theSupreme Court of India and served as a standing counsel for theCentral Government in theSupreme Court of India from 1980 to 1993. He practised in theDelhi High Court and Supreme Court until 1993. As an advocate, he providedpro-bono aid to weaker sections of society, women and the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society ofNew Delhi.[16]
He joined theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1991.[20] He was the president of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002 and the president of the All-India Koli Samaj.[when?] He also served as the national spokesperson of the party.[when?][21][failed verification] He donated his ancestral home in Paraunkh to theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.[20] Soon after joining the BJP, he contestedGhatampur assembly constituency, but lost and later contestedBhognipur in 2007 elections (both inUttar Pradesh) assembly constituency on the BJP ticket but lost again.[22]
He has served on the Board of management ofDr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow,[when?] and on the Board of Governors ofIIM Calcutta.[when?] He has also represented India at the UN and addressed the United Nations General Assembly in October 2002.[24]
Governor Ram Nath Kovind of Bihar welcoming PresidentPranab Mukherjee at Patna on 17 April 2017
On 8 August 2015, PresidentPranab Mukherjee appointed Kovind as thegovernor of Bihar.[25] On 16 August 2015, the acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Iqbal Ahmad Ansari, administered the oath to Kovind as the 26th governor of Bihar, in a ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Patna.[26]
Kovind's appointment was criticised by thenChief Minister of BiharNitish Kumar as it came months before2015 state Assembly elections and the appointment was made without consulting the state government as recommended bySarkaria Commission.[27] However, Kovind's term as the governor was praised for constituting a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mismanagement of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.[20] In June 2017, when he was announced as acandidate for presidential election, Nitish Kumar backed his choice and praised him as being unbiased and working closely with the state government during his governorship.[28]
After nomination for the post of 14th president of India, he resigned from his post as thegovernor of Bihar, and the President of India,Pranab Mukherjee, accepted his resignation on 20 June 2017.[29] He won the election on 20 July 2017.[30]
Kovind received 65.65% of the valid votes, against formerSpeaker of the Lok Sabha,Meira Kumar, the presidential candidate of theOpposition who received 34.35%. Kovind received 2,930 votes (From MPs and MLAs) amounting toElectoral College votes of 702,044 (65.65%) as compared to 1,844 votes with a value of 367,314 (34.35%) votes for Meira Kumar lagging far behind with 367,314 votes, and 77 votes were invalid.[31] He is the firstBJP candidate with RSS background to be elected to the post.[32] The tally of votes (367,314) polled by Meira Kumar is only the second-highest for a losing candidate, that ofNeelam Sanjiva Reddy in the 1969 presidential elections being the highest ever; he received 405,427 votes as against 420,077 byV. V. Giri, the winner.
J. S. Khehar, Chief Justice of India, administering the oath of the office to President-elect Kovind, at a swearing-in ceremony in the central hall of the Samvidhan Sadan, in New Delhi in 2017
Kovind took the oath as the 14th president of India on 25 July 2017.[33] In his 5-year term he addressed theParliament of India five times. First address was upon taking oath, and subsequent four addresses were to joint sitting of both houses from 2018 to 2021. Kovind in his tenure administered oath of office to threeChief Justices of India and 29 other judges ofSupreme Court of India. He was succeeded byDroupadi Murmu on 21 July 2022.
In September 2023, theGovernment of India formed an 8-member committee chaired by Kovind to suggest changes to the constitution for simultaneous polls in the country. The primary objective of this committee, is to examine and propose specific amendments to theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951, and any other relevant laws and regulations to enable simultaneous elections.[34]
In March 2024, his panel submitted an extensive report (over 18,000 pages) recommending synchronised elections across all levels- Lok Sabha, assemblies, and local bodies.[35]
On 2nd October 2025,Kovind along with RSS SarsanghchalakMohan Bhagwat attended the centenary event of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at Nagpur.He became the 2nd president after Pranab Mukherjee to attend an event of the RSS.
Kovind's Autobiography "Triumph of the Indian Republic-My life,My struggles" will be released in December 2025.
In 2010, he was reported to have said that "Islam andChristianity are alien to the nation" as spokesperson of the BJP.[37][38] As reported byIANS and published byHindustan Times, he made this comment in response to theRanganath Misra Commission which recommended 15 per cent reservation for religious and linguistic minorities in government jobs.[39] Although more recently, the issue was raised in the media if whether or not he was misquoted and that he in fact said "Islam and Christianity are alien to the notion (ofcaste)" as opposed to what was reported as 'nation'.[40][41]
^"Kovind: A choice thrown up by Dalit Hindutva interface".The New Indian Express. 21 June 2017. p. Ram Nath Kovind is aKoli Dalit fromUP and a lawyer by training. He signifies the aspirational non-Jatav Dalit middle class that was not too enamoured nor overwhelmed by the anti-Hindutva Ambedkarite outlook seen in the Hindi heartland in the mid-1980s. Retrieved13 December 2021.
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