India's first woman president to be sworn in

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NEW DELHI, July 25 (AFP): India's first female president, Pratibha Patil, will be sworn in Wednesday as head of state of the world's largest democracy.
The 72-year-old lawyer will take over the largely ceremonial role from outgoing president Abdul Kalam at an elaborate ceremony in the capital involving a procession of lance-bearing horsemen. After a bruising campaign to become India's 12th president, she emerged victorious in Saturday's poll of lawmakers, despite accusations that she protected her brother in a murder probe and shielded her husband in a suicide scandal.
Patil, who cuts a conservative figure with her sari pulled over her hair, was plucked from relative political obscurity by Sonia Gandhi, the powerful president of the ruling Congress party.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described her victory as a vote against "the politics of divisiveness."
Under India's constitution, the prime minister has executive power but the president plays a role in forming governments at state and federal levels, making the post hotly-contested.