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 NEW DELHI (AP) - India chose its first female president Saturday in an election hailed as a victory for women in a country where gender discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread.
Still, it's not clear how much 72-year-old Pratibha Patil — a lawyer, congresswoman and former governor of the northern state of Rajasthan — can or will do in the mostly ceremonial post to improve the lives of her countrywomen.
Patil won 65.82 percent of the votes cast by national lawmakers and state legislators, said P.D.T. Achary, the secretary general of Parliament. She had the support of the governing Congress party and its political allies, and had been expected to win.
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