Abhijeet Sawant won the first season of Indian Idol. The show aired on Sony Entertainment Television and is an Indian version of the British show Pop Idol. Amit Sana was announced as the 1st runner-up, and Rahul Vaidya was the 2nd runner-up of the show.
After 19 years of the show, Amit Sana claimed that Abhijeet won Indian Idol due to 'political influence.' Talking to Siddharth Kannan, the singer stated that the channel had blocked his voting lines two days before the last day to make Abhijeet win. "It doesn’t get blocked on its own," said Sana.
Amit said that things took a turn in Indian Idol after Shilpa Shetty praised Abhijeet for his smile in one of the episodes. "He was taken seriously after that,” he said. He also accused the channel of being partial to Abhijeet.
Amit added that some political influence was involved, but he has not researched it on his own. He said that the votes were not part of an electoral process where they were required to be transparent. Further, he also apologised to Abhijeet for bringing the matter up after decades, as they continue to share a warm and friendly relationship even after the show.
Meanwhile, Indian Idol is currently on its fourteenth season. Kumar Sanu, Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Dadlani are the judges of the season.
