Pratibha Patil named India's first woman president
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Pratibha Patil has won the race to become Indian president, the election commission announced Saturday, becoming the first woman to hold the post in a symbolic victory for the hundreds of millions of Indian women who contend with widespread discrimination. Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, defeated the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the incumbent Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in the vote by national lawmakers and state legislators. — AP