Kovind's term will be written in golden words: Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday congratulated Ram Nath Kovind for his victory in the presidential polls and said that his term would be written in golden words.

"I congratulate Kovind Ji. Someone coming from an ordinary social background has reached to the highest constitutional post. He will make India proud and his term will be written down in golden words," Pradhan told media.

Kovind, a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee on Thursday won the presidential elections by defeating Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.

After final round of counting, Kovind got 7,02,044 votes out of a total of 10,69,358 while his opponent and former Lok Sabha speaker Kumar secured 3,67,314 votes.

Kovind will take oath as 14th President of India on July 25 as incumbent Pranab Mukerhjee's last day as president is on July 24.

Following the official announcement of the results, many other political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Meira Kumar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also congratulated Kovind for winning the presidential elections and becoming the 14th President of India.

"Congratulations to Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji on being elected the President of India! Best wishes for a fruitful & inspiring tenure," the Prime Minister tweeted.