NEW DELHI, June 21: Eighty-seven-year-old feminist and freedom fighter Lakshmi Sahgal on Friday filed nomination papers to contest next month’s presidential polls in India against hot favourite Abdul Kalam.

Former prime minister and opposition Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Deve Gowda and a host of leaders of India’s four left parties, who have put up Sahgal, were present when the papers were filed.

Sahgal had raised a women’s battallion for the Indian National Army in Singapore which fought against British rulers during the 1940s.

The country’s highest citizen’s award, the Padma Vibhushan, was bestowed on Sahgal in 1998 both for her contribution to India’s freedom struggle and her work in establishing free clinics for women.

Despite Sahgal’s impressive credentials political observers have said she did not stand “a ghost of a chance” in the two-way presidential contest.

India’s ruling coalition named Kalam as a candidate last week after hectic negotiations between the government and the opposition failed to arrive at a consensus candidate.

The Congress party, after initial hesitation, finally threw its weight behind Kalam, ensuring he will become India’s next president. The incumbent, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, is due to complete his five-year term on July 24.

India has a special electoral college that votes for the president, which includes members of state legislative assemblies and the lower house of parliament.—AFP