Who Is Meira Kumar In Indian Politics

UPDATE: Meira Kumar lost the election of 14th President of India against Ram Nath Kovind.

Meira Kumar is a lawyer and former diplomat apart from an active politician in India. She was MP for five times and served as Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014.

Between 2004 and 2009 Kumar was a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

She is the daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister and Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, and freedom fighter Indrani Devi. She was born in Arrah district of Indian state Bihar. She went to Welham Girls School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, and thereafter to Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Meira Kumar did her M.A. and L.L.B. at Indraprastha College and Miranda House, respectively in Delhi.

She joined Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1975 and in 1985 she set her first step into politics. She was elected from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh by defeating powerful Dalit leaders including Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati.

In the 6th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabhas she was elected from Karol Bagh in Delhi. In 1996, when the BJP wave was at its peak for the first time, she lost her seat. However, she later was re-elected from her father’s former constituency of Sasaram in Bihar.

Very recently, in 2014 Lok Sabha election, she lost the Sasaram seat to Chhedi Paswan.

She is the first woman speaker of Lok Sabha.