Graphic: Sumant Chawla
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been nominated for the prestigious Time magazine ‘Person of The Year’ title for 2015. Based on readers poll, the Indian PM ranks at number 8 with vote share of 2.7 per cent, is contending for poll positions with top notch international personalities like Democratic candidate in US Presidential race, Bernie Sanders , Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, US President Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.
The final results will be declared on December 9.
Sanders (10.5%) continues to lead the poll, followed by Malala Yousafzai (5.9 per cent) at second place, while Pope Francis (3.9 per cent) is on third position.
Sanders also outpaces other US presidential candidates, including Republican Donald Trump (2.1%) and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton (1.4%).
Modi, according to the Time profile, “has encouraged foreign direct investment in India and is trying to modernise the world’s largest democracy. He has also faced controversy over what some see as right-wing extremism”.
Google’s Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai is currently in the 25th place with a vote share of 1.5%, while Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani was in the 55th slot with a 0.5% vote share.
With global figures taking five of the top ten spots in the final week of voting, US President Barack Obama (3.5%) was in the fourth place, “refugees” were in fifth and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the tenth.
International leaders have been named most influential by the magazine in recent years. The Pope was TIME’s Person of the Year in 2013, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was chosen as Person of the Year in 2007.
Voting on the readers’ choice poll ends December 4 at 11.59pm, and the winner of the poll will be announced on December 7.
TIME’s editors will choose the Person of the Year, who they consider to have influenced the news for better or for worse this year. It may well differ from the readers’ choice.
(With IANS inputs)