 On 8 November 2004 she was appointed as the 24th Governor of Rajasthan, the first woman to hold that office and according to the BBC was "a low-profile" incumbent.Patil was announced as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate on 14 June 2007.She emerged as a compromise candidate after the left-wing parties of the alliance would not agree to the nomination of former Home Minister Shivraj Patil or Karan Singh.