12 Facts About Meira Kumar

Meira Kumar was born on 31 March 1945 and is an Indian politician and former diplomat.

Meira Kumar served as the 15th Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014, being the first woman to hold the post.

Meira Kumar was the joint presidential candidate by the leading opposition parties for 2017 presidential election and lost the election to the NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

Meira Kumar was born on 31 March 1945, in Bhojpur district, Bihar of the British India to Jagjivan Ram, an Depressed Class leader and former Deputy Prime Minister and Indrani Devi, a prominent leader of the Indian freedom struggle.

Meira Kumar received an honorary doctorate from Banasthali Vidyapith in 2010.

Meira Kumar was appointed as the Chairperson of National Drought Relief Committee constituted by the Congress during 1967 famine in region of Bihar.

Meira Kumar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973 and was posted as language trainee at the Embassy of India Spain.

Meira Kumar entered electoral politics in 1985, when she received an Indian National Congress' nomination for the Lok Sabha from the Bijnor constituency bye-poll in Uttar Pradesh.

Meira Kumar lost her seat to the candidate from the Bhartiya Janata Party in 1999 election, but was able re-elected with a significant majority from her father's former constituency of Sasaram in Bihar in 2004 and 2009.

In 2009, the United Progressive Alliance returned to power after an improved performance in the general election and Meira Kumar was, on May 22,2009, briefly inducted as member of the centre's cabinet as the Minister for Water Resources.

Meira Kumar was then elected as the first ever woman speaker of Lok Sabha and remained in office from 2009 to 2014.

Meira Kumar secured the United Progressive Alliance's nomination for the 2017 Indian presidential election, becoming just the third woman to be nominated for president of India by a major political bloc, after Pratibha Patil.