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India to elect controversial woman president

India is set to elect its first female head of state in a two-way election this week, the run-up to which has been the most vitriolic in recent memory, analysts say.

Pratibha Patil, 72, nominated by the Congress-led government, is seen as a shoo-in thanks to support from the ruling coalition and its supporters in the secret ballot to be held on Thursday by an electoral college made up of state and federal lawmakers.

But accusations that Patil shielded members of her family over accusations of murder and abetting suicide have led to charges by the media that her term could be undermined by scandal.

Patil's candidature for the largely ceremonial post was announced as opinion polls showed most Indians favoured a second term for the incumbent president Abdul Kalam, who was the previous Hindu nationalist government's choice.

But Kalam pulled out of the race after the Congress and the opposition Hindu nationalist-dominated alliance could not agree on fielding him for another term.

Though the Congress defended its selection, saying it was giving a woman the chance to occupy the top post in a country where women face heavy discrimination, the opposition said Patil was named due to her loyalty to India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

Patil is pitted against the 84-year-old vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who is being supported by the Hindu nationalists.

Patil got a major dose of bad press after a court in her home state of Maharashtra said it would hear a case linking her husband D.R. Shekhawat to the suicide of a school teacher seven years ago.

Then, one of her brothers was linked to a murder in the same state.

And the opposition charged that a bank she headed went under when her relatives defaulted on their loans.

Patil has dismissed the allegations, but analysts say her candidacy could be compromised.
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