Vice President Shankar Dayal Sharma, a popular veteran of the governing Congress Party, was elected India's ninth president.

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Although the presidency has few powers, Sharma's victory should benefit the Congress Party, whose prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, has governed for more than a year without a majority in Parliament.Sharma, 74, received 66 percent of the votes cast Monday by 4,367 state and federal legislators.

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