NEW DELHI, June 3 (RIA Novosti) - India's lower house of parliament has for the first time elected a woman as its speaker, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced during a parliament session broadcast live on Wednesday.
Meira Kumar, 64, was the only candidate and was backed by the governing Congress-led coalition and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Kumar replaces Somnath Chatterjee, a Communist lawmaker who held the post for the previous five years.
"It is a historic moment as a woman has been considered for this important and august post," Kumar said on Tuesday after filing her nomination for the job.
Other women have held high positions in India's government, most notably Indira Gandhi, who served three consecutive terms as prime minister. India's current president, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, and the leaders of four of its main political parties are women, including Indira's daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi, who heads Congress. However, only 10% of the 543 MPs in the lower house are women.
Kumar is the daughter of the late former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram and holds a law degree. She was born into the dalit, formerly untouchable, community at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy.
She is married to Manjul Kumar, a Supreme Court lawyer, and they have three children.
