In June 2017, he won the nomination of the Bharatiya Janata Party for President of India in the 2017 Indian presidential election. After winning the nomination, he resigned from his post as Governor of Bihar, and President of India Pranab Mukherjee accepted his resignation on 20 June 2017. According to polling after voting was closed on 17 July 2017, Kovind was expected to win the presidency with a voting outcome of 99%. Kovind was declared as the winner after the counting of votes held on 20 July 2017.