NEW DELHI, 20 July 2007 — India is set to get its first ever woman president after the main opposition Hindu nationalists conceded defeat in the parliamentary vote for the new head of state yesterday.

“Pratibha Patil will win... she is now the president-elect,” a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said.

However, the official, who asked that his name not be used, said Pratibha had “fallen in the eyes of the Indian people,” referring to the scandals that have dogged the ruling Congress candidate in the run-up to the vote. The election commission will officially announce the results tomorrow.

Pratibha, 72, has been hit by accusations that she protected her brother in a murder probe and shielded her husband in a suicide scandal, as well as allegations of involvement in a slew of financial scams.

Pratibha, the candidate for the ruling Congress-led coalition, was seen as a shoo-in for the ceremonial post, decided in a secret ballot by an electoral college of 4,896, including 776 federal lawmakers and 4,120 members of the legislative assemblies,

Although Pratibha, who was governor of the state of Rajasthan before her candidacy was sponsored last month by India’s ruling Congress-led coalition, has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Presidential candidates and their families are traditionally expected to have an impeccable reputation.

“This sort of a dirty campaign is totally new, it has set a new low,” said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

The Congress party and its legislative allies were also claiming victory for the Hindi-speaking Pratibha.

“The nation celebrates the victory of the first woman president of the country,” said Saifuddin Soz of Kashmir’s National Conference party, which backs Congress.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who have billed Pratibha’s nomination as a push for gender equality, were among the first to vote at the Parliament building.

Pratibha, plucked from relative political obscurity to be the Congress candidate, faced incumbent vice president 84-year-old Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, sponsored by the BJP.

Beyond the mudslinging, Pratibha was mocked when she spoke of a “divine premonition of greater responsibility.” India’s leading news magazine, India Today, dubbed her the “Embarrassing Choice” on its front cover.

Various opinion polls showed most Indians favored a second term for missile scientist Abdul Kalam, who has been called the “People’s President” for his populist style. His term ends on July 24. Congress refused to support a second term for Kalam because he was nominated by the previous BJP-led government.

Congress said it was giving a woman the chance to occupy the top post and that her election would send a strong anti-discrimination message in India’s 60th year of independence.

But the BJP charged that Pratibha was named due to her loyalty to India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and her friendship with the Italian-born party leader. It launched an anti-Pratibha website with a banner that read: “India diminished, Indians disgraced.”

Under the constitution, the prime minister wields most of the executive power. The president plays a role in forming government at the state and federal levels, which makes the job hotly contested.

In a bid to fight back, Congress has hit out at Shekhawat, questioning his patriotic credentials, saying he joined a British-run police force in pre-independence India in 1942 against Indian freedom fighters.