Shah acknowledged as much in a tweet saying, "It is our great privilege that 1st time BJP had an opportunity to nominate a President on its own, a member of Dalit community was chosen."
The only other BJP-led NDA presidential nominee to get elected to the top constitutional position was A P J Abdul Kalam, who won in 2002, but he had no political background.
As the saffron party did not enjoy in 2002 the kind of numbers it has now, it was virtually forced to go for a face like Kalam who could draw bi-partisan support.
In the 2007 election, the BJP backed its stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was then the vice president, against the UPA nominee Pratibha Patil, but he lost in an one-sided contest.
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In 2012, the BJP supported the candidature of P A Sangma, a former Lok Sabha speaker, against Pranab Mukherjee of the Congress and other UPA partners. Sangma, who headed a regional outfit, lost badly with Mukherjee getting more than twice the number of votes he got.
This time, its candidate Kovind did not get only the votes of all its allies but also many rivals parties like the BJD and the JD(U).