Kovind obtained 65.65 percent of votes from the electoral college. His opponent, the joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar, got a mere 34.35 percent.
Kovind got the votes of 522 Members of Parliament while Kumar bagged the votes of 225 MPs. As many 771 elected MPs were eligible to cast their ballot.
Both are Dalits, an oppressed community at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system.
Kovind, a lawyer, was born into a humble farmer's family in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India. He has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, or parliament's house of elders, held various posts within the BJP and was governor of eastern Bihar state.
Kovind has affiliations with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu revivalist volunteer group which is the ideological mentor of the BJP.
He is scheduled to take the oath of office on July 25. He would succeed Pranab Mukherjee, a veteran politician from the Congress party, who completes his five-year term on July 24.