We look at the journey traversed by Pratibha Devisingh Patil from a small village in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra to being elected as the country's first women President.
Pratibha Devisingh Patil had humble beginnings.
Born to Narayan Rao, in Nadgaon, Maharashtra, on 19 December 1934, she studied at R.R. School at Jalgaon.
She completed her M.A from M.J. College, Jalgaon and obtained a Law Degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai.
During her college days, she excelled in table tennis, winning various inter-college tournaments.
Pratibha Patil became a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1962 and continued to be a member till 1985.
In 1965, she married educator Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat.
From 1962 to 1985, she assumed various responsibilities at the state level being Deputy Minister and Minister in the Maharashtra Government between 1967 to 1978 and from 1982 to 1985.
She was also the Leader of Opposition in the same Assembly from July 1979 to February 1980.
The year 1985 saw her becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha and she remained in the upper house till 1990.
She was Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha from November 1986 till November 1988.
During this period, she was also the Chairman of the Committee of Privileges of the Rajya Sabha.
In 1991, she was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha for the first time from the Amravati constituency.
Her last stint was as the Governor of Rajasthan from 8th November
