Ram Nath Kovind ( 1 October 1945 ) is the 14th and current President of India. Prior to his nomination, he served as the 26th Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 2006. Kovind was nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling NDA coalition and won the 2017 presidential election. Before entering politics, he was a lawyer for 16 years and practised in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court until 1993.