Vice President Becomes India’s 9th President
Vice President Shankar Dayal Sharma was declared India’s ninth president Thursday, giving a boost to his Congress-I party, which is governing without a majority in Parliament.
Sharma replaces President Ramaswamy Venkataraman, whose five-year term ends today.
The president is largely a figurehead, but in many ways the federal government acts through the president, including using his power to dismiss state governments and impose federal rule or to delay legislation.
These powers could help Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, the leader of the Congress-I party, which is a few seats short of a majority in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the decision-making lower house of Parliament.
Sharma received 66% of the votes cast Monday by 4,367 state and federal legislators. The other candidate was lawmaker George Gilbert Swell, a Christian who was nominated by the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party, a major rival to the Congress-I party.
Sharma, 74, has a doctorate in constitutional law.
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