US 'Looks Forward' To Working With President-Elect Ram Nath Kovind

The United States congratulated president-elect Ram Nath Kovind on his electoral victory and said that it looks forward to working with him on both regional and global issues.

Ram Nath Kovind, a lawyer-turned-politician, was elected as India's 14th President, the first BJP member and the second Dalit to occupy the country's highest office.

"We want to congratulate the President-elect Ram Nath Kovind on his victory," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at a news conference yesterday.

Noting that the US and India have a "deep and growing strategic partnership", she said: "We look forward to working with the president-elect on regional and global issues."

Ms Nauert credited the close people-to-people contact between the world's two largest democracies with the type of partnership they share.

"That partnership is obviously underpinned by our very close people-to-people contact with the Indian government and our shared democratic values," Ms Nauert said in response to a question.

A former Bihar governor, Ram Nath Kovind, 71, received 2930 votes with a value of 7,02,044, to defeat the joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha speaker, who got 1844 votes with a value of 3,67,314.

President-elect Kovind garnered 65.65 per cent of the votes in the electoral college against the BJP's projected 70 per cent vote for him.