New Delhi: Though Meira Kumar faced defeat in the race to Presidential elections to NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, she created a record by securing the highest votes for a losing candidate.
She received 3.67 lakh votes out of 10.69 lakh valid votes polled. For nearly 50 years now the record had been held by a former Chief Justice of India Koka Subba Rao during the 1967 election by securing 3.63 lakh votes . He too was the united opposition candidate at the time.
However, while Meira broke the record of highest number of votes Rao still continues to hold the record in terms of highest percentage of vote share with 43 per cent against Meira’s 34 per cent.
Congratulating Ram Nath Kovindji on being elected as the President of India the former Lok Sabha Speaker extended her good wishes to him saying, “It has fallen upon him to uphold the Constitution of India in this most challenging time.”
She further added that her battle for ideology will continue because the ideology, the value system, the principles that I am fighting for are held sacred by most of the people of my country who find strength in it, she said.
The former Lok Sabha Speaker said the values for which she is battling are “social justice, inclusiveness, secularism, transparency, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and total destruction of the caste system”.
“I will continue to fight for these values with all the strength at my command.”
Kumar also thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi, opposition leaders and countrymen for their support.
“I want to thank all those honourable members of the collegium who voted for me. I want to thank Sonia Gandhi and all the leaders of those opposition political parties who unanimously made me the candidate in this election. I want to thank my countrymen and women who have extended good wishes to me and have supported me,” she added.
Kovind got 65.65 per cent of the total valid vote value of 10,69,358, while Meira Kumar got 34.35 per cent.
