June 22, 2019:

PM Modi won the Reader's poll with 30.9% of the vote.

In yet another proof of his image of a global leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been declared as the winner of a reader’s poll for world’s most powerful person 2019 conducted by a leading British magazine.

The poll, which was conducted by British Herald, closed on Saturday midnight. The magazine said that PM Modi defeated several world leaders & politicians to be declared as the winner.

PM Modi won with 30.9% of the vote. He was placed well ahead of his closest contenders, which included Russia's Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump (US), & China's Xi Jinping with 29.9%, 21.9%, & 18.1% votes respectively.

More than 25 world leaders were nominated in the reader's poll & four candidates were finally selected for the final round by an expert panel. The evaluation of the selection process was based on extensive study & research on all those nominated for the poll.

Unlike regular voting system, the British Herald readers had to vote through a mandatory one-time password (OTP) process to validate their vote.

Surprisingly, while the voting was on, the website of the British magazine crashed as many voters attempted to vote for their preferred leaders, generating about three million hits in a week. Interestingly, during the first week of June on the voting page of British Herald crossed 2.5 Million hits.

PM Narendra Modi, who is also referred to as NaMo, is regarded as one of the top influential world leaders. He has raised his profile as a world leader in recent years through his successful official foreign visits & meetings with US President Donald Trump, China's Xi Jinping & Vladimir Putin.

He has emerged as a key figure in the Asian region & has earned praise for his government's ''Act East Policy''. His effort to tackle climate change has been seen positively by the world, as warming affects millions of his country’s rural citizens. PM Narendra Modi will be featured on the cover page of British Herald Magazine in July. It will be released on 15th July 2019.

British Herald had earlier featured Jacinda Ardern in May-June issue & Vladimir Putin in Mar-April issue.

In recent months, PM Modi saw high approval ratings from Indians in the run-up to the 2019 general elections largely due to his stand against terrorism & the airstrike on the terror camps in Ballakot, Pakistan. Besides, the implementations of schemes like Ayushman Bharat - a health insurance scheme for 500 million citizens, Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojna - free LPG connection for 60 million people below the poverty line & Clean India scheme building toilets all around the country had earned him remarkable support.

PM Modi also came under scrutiny recently when his critics pointed about the high unemployment rate & sky-rocketing Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of the banking industry.

His government was blamed by the lower-middle strata & poor for not being able to control high inflation & high rates of fuel after September 2018 as he came to power in 2014 promising to break high inflation rates but the recent elections was a backlash to those critics as he was chaired the Prime Minister of India for the second time. His decision to get rid of Rs 500 & 1,000 notes through demonetisation, impacted cash-based businesses & threatened India’s economy.

In other words, he took a great risk to refresh the national economy for the future to come. Followed by goods & services tax (GST), the Indian business community & the industry at-large felt the turbulence with the implementation initially.

However, the people of India accepted his style of governance & politics as he was voted back as Prime Minister in 2019.

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