India elects its First Woman President

On 19 July 2007, Ms. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, a Presidential candidate nominated by the ruling party, the Indian National Congress, and the leftwing parties, won the Presidential elections to the post of the 13th President of India.
           
Ms. Patil, born on 19 December 1934, became the first woman President of India succeeding Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the highest post of the country when she was sworn in as the President of India on 25 July 2007 by the Chief Justice of India, Mr. K.G. Balakrishnan.
            
A trained lawyer, Ms. Patil had been elected as the Member of the Maharashtra (a province in India) Legislative Assembly from the Edlabad constituency in the Jalgaon District of Maharashtra from 1962 to1985. She also served as the Deputy Chairperson of the Indian Senate from 1986 to1988, Member of Parliament from the Amravati constituency from 1991 to 1996, and was the twentiforth and the first woman Governor of the province of Rajasthan from 2004 to 2007.

       
On 10 August 2007, Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari, a former diplomat and the Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities was elected as the Vice President of India. Mr. Ansari is known for his role in ensuring compensation for the victims of the Gujarat riots in 2005 and in initiating the reorganization of the relief and rehabilitation programs for riot victims since 1984. Mr. Ansari served as a diplomat at the United Nations, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan.

 
The Indian President, Prathiba Patil