New York: Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has won Time magazine’s readers’ poll of the world’s 100 most influential people, garnering more than three times as many votes as his rival Hillary Clinton.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tennis icon Sania Mirza and actor Priyanka Chopra are also among the probable contenders named by the magazine for its annual list.
In the readers’ poll, Modi got 0.7 per cent of the ‘yes’ votes while Mirza got 0.5 per cent and Chopra 0.8 per cent. Sanders had been leading the readers’ poll from the start and finished with 3.3 per cent of the total ‘yes’ votes when the poll closed midnight yesterday.
The 74-year-old Vermont senator not only beat Clinton, 68, who has finished with one per cent of the ‘yes’ votes but also a host of world leaders and cultural figures.
Sanders edged out the South Korean boy band Big Bang which got 2.9 per cent votes. Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi came in third with 2.2 per cent votes followed by US President Barack Obama with two per cent. Time’s editors will announce the ‘TIME 100’, the annual list of the world’s most influential people next week.
While its editors will determine the ultimate honorees, the publication had asked readers to vote from among 127 “world leaders, great minds in science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment” on who they think deserve recognition.
Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama, Pope Francis and Leonardo DiCaprio round out the top 10.
“While (Sanders) badly lags Clinton in winning the delegates needed to capture the presidential nomination, his populist rhetoric and emphasis on income inequality has allowed him to sustain a stronger-than-expected challenge to Clinton while also helping frame the debate in the Democratic contest,” the magazine said.
India-born CEOs of the world’s top technology companies are also among the list of 127 probables for the annual honour. Google CEO Sundar Pichai got 0.8 per cent votes while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella got 0.6 per cent votes.
The list also includes SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, singer Rihanna, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Suu Kyi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
