When counting finished yesterday, Kalam, 71, had won 4,152 of the total 4,785 votes cast in a complex electoral college system involving national and state lawmakers, officials said. He will be sworn in for his five-year-term next Wednesday.

Analysts said India’s coalition government, led by the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), chose Kalam to try to heal religious rifts and silence criticism of its handling of Hindu-Muslim violence in February and March. The government says more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in weeks of violence in western Gujarat state after 59 Hindus died on a train torched by a mob. Human rights groups put the toll at more than 2,500.

Kalam, the third Muslim among India’s 11 presidents, faced only one opponent, Lakshmi Sahgal, an 87-year-old woman activist and former member of the Indian National Army which fought for independence.

Kalam, a bachelor with long gray hair, headed India’s missile development program through the 1980s and was also part of a team that conducted India’s 1998 nuclear tests. "I am indeed delighted to get elected as the next president", Kalam told reporters at his New Delhi home. He said the world’s second most populous country needed a vision "to get transformed into a developed nation in 20 years’ time" and he would work to achieve it.

"It means a poverty-free nation, a prosperous nation, and a healthy nation with value systems (in which) our children will live happily," Kalam said. Brushing off criticism of his lack of political experience, Kalam said he had dealt closely with political leaders during the two decades he worked on India’s rocket and missile programs. "I have worked with six prime ministers ... so I know now how to handle every aspect," he said.