Pratibha Patil of the ruling Congress party and its political allies was on Saturday declared the winner of India's presidential election, becoming the country's first woman president.
Patil, a 72-year-old former governor of Rajasthan, defeated her only opponent, opposition-backed Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. She succeeds A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
It's official now. Celebrations began in the UPA and Left camp and in Maharashtra too. UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil became the first Woman President of India. She defeated the NDA-backed independent candidate BS Shekhawat by a huge margin of 306,810 votes. In total, Pratibha got 638,116 votes, while Shekhawat managed to get 331,306. Pratibha got 11,000 votes more than what was expected.
Although her victory was certain, for the first time, the Presidential elections in India became murkier with mud-slinging and a series of allegations.
Pratibha's victory is not only a setback for the BJP, but also it casted doubt on the future of NDA. While NDA ally Shiv Sena voted for Pratibha Patil, other allies like JD (S) and Trinamul Congress abstained from voting. The only consolation for NDA came from AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha, who supported the NDA-backed candidate at the eleventh hour.
Cross voting has been reported in several states and BJP is worst-affected. In Arunachal Pradesh, Shekhawat got only one vote although BJP has 9 MLAs there. Some BJP MLAs in Gujarat, Jharkhand and some other states defied the party to vote for Pratibha Patil.
After the result was announced, BJP President Rajnath Singh Said, "I accept this "arithmetical defeat".
Although Pratibha won the elections by a huge margin, the allegations against her and her family still remain. Now all eyes will be shifted to Bombay High Court where a petition is pending against Pratibha Patil for allegedly shielding her brother in a murder case.
