India set to elect first woman president after ugly contest

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indian lawmakers looked set to elect on Thursday the country's first ever woman president after the most contentious contest in six decades of independence.

Backed by the ruling Congress coalition, Pratibha Patil, 72, was expected to be a shoo-in to succeed popular missile scientist Abdul Kalam as president in the secret vote by an electoral college of state and federal lawmakers, analysts said.

But the campaign has been marked by vitriolic exchanges over Patil's fitness to hold the job, which is largely ceremonial.

Patil has been hit by accusations she protected her brother in a murder probe and shielded her husband in a suicide scandal, as well as allegations of involvement in a slew of financial scams.

Although she has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, presidential candidates and their families are traditionally expected to be free from any whiff of scandal.

"This sort of a dirty (presidential) campaign is totally new, it has set a new low," said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

Patil, vaulted from relative political obscurity by her nomination, is pitted against incumbent vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, 84, who is being supported by the Hindu nationalist opposition.

Voting will take place on Thursday with the results due on Saturday.

Patil, governor of Rajasthan, became a figure of mockery when she spoke of a "divine premonition of greater responsibility" and India's leading news magazine, India Today, dubbed her on its front cover the "Embarrassing Choice."

Congress announced Patil's candidacy last month as opinion polls showed most Indians favoured a second term for Kalam, whose term ends on July 24, and who has been called the "People's President" for his populist style.

Congress refused to support a second term for Kalam because he was nominated by the previous Hindu nationalist government.

Congress said it was giving a woman the chance to occupy the top post and that it would send a strong anti-discrimination message in India's 60th year of independence.

But the opposition charged that Patil was named due to her loyalty to India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and friendship with Italian-born Sonia Gandhi.

Gandhi is Congress president and it has been the practice to nominate presidents friendly to the ruling party.

With ballots expected to be cast along party lines, "the numbers in the electoral college are in Patil's favour," said analyst Rasheed Kidwai.

The 4,896-strong electoral college comprises 776 federal MPs and 4,120 lawmakers from India's 29 states and one union territory.

Under the constitution, the prime minister wields most of the executive power. The president plays a role in forming government at the state and federal levels, which still makes the job hotly contested.

Two days ahead of the poll, a pamphlet with damaging articles about Patil's record was posted to households. The opposition also launched an anti-Patil website. "India diminished, Indians disgraced," the website banner read.

In a bid to fight back, Congress has hit out at Patil's rival Shekhawat, questioning his patriotic credentials, saying he joined a British-run police force in pre-independence India in 1942 against Indian freedom fighters.