Scandals mar vote for India's first woman president

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It was billed as a proud and historic day for Indian women, as lawmakers prepare to vote on Thursday for the country's first ever female president. But it has turned instead into a major embarrassment for the government.

Pratibha Patil, the ruling coalition's 72-year-old nominee for the largely ceremonial post of president, should sail through Thursday's vote with relative ease against the opposition-backed challenger and current vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

But even before she takes office, Patil has run into rougher waters than she or her supporters could have imagined.

And the scandals which are now dogging her candidature -- and her habit of putting her foot firmly in her mouth -- threaten to undermine the very post of president, analysts say.

"There may be nothing in these charges but for the highest office there should not be an iota of doubt," said political analyst Kuldip Nayar. "The office definitely has been affected."

Patil, governor of the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, found herself thrust onto the national stage for the first time when the Congress-led coalition and its communist allies failed to agree on a joint candidate for the job.

Out of nowhere, her name came forward, and who could object to a bit of positive discrimination -- especially in favour of a nice, unchallenging grandmother with few obvious enemies?

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, the most powerful politician in the country, called it a "historic" decision.