7 Things You should know about the Opposition’s Presidential Candidate Meira Kumar

1) SHE’S FROM AN ELITE FAMILY

Meira Kumar is the daughter of former deputy prime minister, late Jagjivan Ram who was an eminent dalit political figure and freedom fighter Indrani Devi.

2) SHE’S HIGHLY EDUCATED

She did her schooling from Welham Girls School and Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls Public School. She then came to Delhi for her graduation and completed her MA and LLB at Indraprastha college and Miranda House, Delhi University. She has also received and honorary doctorate from Banasthali Vidyapith. She’s also multilingual, being able to speak English, Hindi as well as Spanish.

3) SHE HAS SERVED IN THE INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE

She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1975 and served in embassies in Mauritius, Spain and United Kingdom.

4) SHE WON HER FIRST ELECTION AGAINST POLITICAL HEAVYWEIGHTS

She quit the Indian foreign service in 1985 and made her political debut in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor. She defeated political heavyweights such as Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati, despite both of them being Dalit leaders too.

5) SHE WAS THE FIRST LADY SPEAKER OF LOK SABHA

In 2009, she was briefly inducted as Union Minister for Water Resources but after being nominated for the position of Speaker of Lok Sabha, she submitted her resignation three days after assuming ministerial office and became the first ever woman speaker of Lok Sabha. She served as the Speaker from 2009 to 2014.

6) SHE IS A FIVE-TIME MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

She has been a member of the 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th lok sabhas. She is also a two-time union minister being the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2004 and later briefly inducted into the cabinet as Union Minister for Water Resources in 2009.

7) SHE IS UPA AND OTHER OPPOSITION PARTIES’ PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, she has been elected as the oppositions candidate for the presidential elections of 2017.