Kovind or Meira Kumar - Who is a better candidate for President of India?

Kovind or Meira Kumar - Who is a better candidate for President of India?

Ramnath Kovind is the NDA government’s candidate for the presidential elections 2017. The opposition brought forward an equally strong candidate as well. Meira Kumar is the daughter of a well known politician and knows politics like the back of her hand. Ramnath Kovind is no less fierce too. July 16 will witness one of these candidates sworn as the next president of India.

Sure there are other candidates but they stand no chance against the official contenders and hence it is wise to compare only the two leads.

Ramnath Kovind

1. Career

With an advocate degree up his sleeves and a political career to boost of, Ramnath is bound to get more favoured by people. He was Central government advocate in Delhi High Court. He also went on to become an advocate-on-record of the Supreme Court of India. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about 16 years. He was also enrolled as an advocate in 1971 with the bar council of Delhi.

2. Philanthropy

He is well known to have provided free legal aid to weaker sections of society, women and the poor under the Free Legal Aid Society in New Delhi in his days of advocacy. As a member of parliament, he served on the Parliamentary Committee for Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Home Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Social Justice and Empowerment, Law and Justice. During his years as a parliamentarian, under M.P. L.A.D. Scheme, he focused on education in rural areas by helping in construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. These are enough to get him seated on the high chair of the President of India.

3. The dalit card

He is a dalit leader. His father was a farmer. He was President of the BJP Dalit Morcha between 1998 and 2002 and President of the All-India Koli Samaj. He has served on the Board of management of Dr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow and as on the Board of Governors of IIM Kolkata. At a time when justice for dalits is the war cry and JNU is rustling with the issue, a dalit for presidential candidate is the best bet Amit Shah could have taken. He will be people’s favourite to speak the least.

4. The president’s favourite

In 2015 he was appointed Governor of Bihar by the President. The president has at times praised him for constituting a judicial commission to investigate irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, mis-management of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.

Meira Kumar

1. Career

She is a lawyer and former diplomat. She is a five-time member of parliament which ensures she is as much into politics as the other candidate and knows laws too. She was elected as the first ever woman speaker of Lok Sabha which is a huge enough prestige. She was in Indian Foreign Service before she made a comeback into politics. She served in the Congress-led UPA Government as the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.

2. A dalit too

She is the daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister and prominent Dalit leader, Jagjivan Ram, and her mother was a freedom fighter, Indrani Devi. She is known to have defeated big players in politics like Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati. She could play the woman card along with the dalit card to get herself favoured in the elections.

While the two candidates are equally good, the NDA candidate has clearly more support than Meira Kumar which is expected to pave clear way for his win in the presidential election 2017.