The final call to decide the
Person of the Year is taken by the magazine’s editors however, the poll results reveal how exactly "the world sees these figures”.
Modi has defeated other world leaders, artists and politicians online.
The poll ended on Sunday night by which time Modi had received 18% of the “yes” votes. Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Julian Assange were far behind him with only 7% votes each. Mark Zuckerberg had received 2% and Hillary Clinton 4% of the votes.
According to September's Pew poll, with the Paris Climate Change Agreement sanction, Modi has gained “high approval ratings from Indians” in the last few months. Ironically, this comes in a time when Modi has been criticised by many around the world for the demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee notes which has affected scores of Indians.
“Modi performed particularly well among Indian voters as well as those in California and New Jersey,” reports TIME.
TIME picks the most influential person or group of people each year – based on their greatest global impact made over the past 12 months. This year, TIME editors were also able to see “how candidates were influential on the Internet.”