Nepal expresses willingness to working closely with Kovind

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba congratulated president-elect Ram Nath Kovind on his electoral victory and expressed willingness to working closely with him to further strengthening the "cordial" relations with India.

Kovind, a low-key lawyer-turned-politician, was yesterday elected as India's 14th President, the first BJP member and the second Dalit to occupy the country's highest office.

Bhandari and Deuba, in their messages of congratulations sent to the president-elect yesterday, expressed willingness to working closely with him in the days ahead to further strengthening the cordial relations between Nepal and India, The Himalayan Times quoted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying.

A former Bihar governor, Kovind, 71, defeated the joint opposition candidate Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)