From: Denny Mathews <Mathews_Denny@bah.com>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 20:32:39 -0500

Person Nominated : P.M Devegowda

Reasons : He rose to the Prime Ministership, an unlikely and surprising choice, at a time when India was on the brink of a political disaster, Since no party had a clear majority. His success in being the glue that united the diaspora of opposing politica

l parties, ideologically and philosophically, and provide a stable, dynamic, vivacious and relatively clean government at the center makes him my choice, a sensible and rational one, to be the person of the year.

From: Venkata.subramonyam@professionals.com <venkata@wipro.wipsys.soft.net>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 17:22:32 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Vajpayee

Reasons : for his reply to the no-confidence motion in parliament. I think this is the most important event in 96.

From: sameer s.mehta <shanpart@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>

Person Nominated : Indian Judiciary

Reasons : they have shown their non-aligned policy and have shown its truth finding efforts to the people- being the last ray of hope for India.

From: mandy.nambiar@professionals.com <nm34@cornell.edu>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 14:48:38 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Prem Paniker

Reasons : His Excellent commentary and outstanding articles on the web. He is a true cricketer (at heart of course) and he has an indepth understanding of the game.

From: Randeep Singh Bhatia <randeep@bigfoot.com>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 11:59:39 -0500

Person Nominated : Manisha Koirala

Reasons : For the most obvious reason. She has taken Indian Film Industry by surprise and surged forward to become the number one actress. Her Talent is beyond comparison. India has a lot to look forward to in this young actress.

From: Robin <yazad@giaspn01.vsnl.net.in>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 10:32:36 -0500

Person Nominated : Scoobie Doo

Reasons : He's so cool, he chills me out. He's the greatest dog on Cartoon Network.

From: Sridhar.Iyer@professionals.com <iyer@mtu.edu>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 05:55:27 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Shri. T.N. seshan

Reasons : For (nearly) single-handely changing the ways elections have been held all these eons. Without much overstepping the rules and red tapisms he gave the much required pride to a common man's vote. He strode where angels feared even to peep. Good luck to him.

From: SRIRAMAN.NARAYANAN@professionals.com <sparks@eng.utah.edu>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 03:22:19 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T.N.SESHAN

Reasons : He was the backbone for the successful elections to be held in the recent times, though there were minor instancesof malpractises. He fought against forces within & outside the election commission.I salute him for his struggle to uphold one of the greatest democracies in the world, INDIA.

From: Ravi Govil <rgovil@msmail.radisys.com>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 05:54:13 -0500

Person Nominated : Leander Paes

Reasons : What he did in Atlanta Olympics 96 I believe no one brought more pride to India than him this year. T. N. Seshan may be close second. But all his efforts has gone waste after the government was made

From: Rajiv Kumar <rajiv@anatomy.emory.edu>

Date sent: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 01:14:23 -0500

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Reasons : I nominate Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a person of the year 1996, particularly because of the following reason.

He presented an image infront of the country that He has good programs for the country and he can lead the country towards the progress and prosperity. He did not indulge in the politics of horse trading, which most of the parties have done so far and are doing. Although, he remained Prime Minister of the biggest democracy of the world for just 13 days, but he presented a true morale and character of the Prime Minister.

He is a true secularist politician in the country, who understand the value of nationalism and can really lead the country.

He is the most respected politician in the post independence history of India, respected by politicians of all political parties.

There are so many politicians who have pending cases against them, but Atal Bihari is the only politician who has the clean image and has no allegations against him.

From: Dr.krishna.sharma@professionals.com <csharma@shark.stmarys.ca>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 18:39:07 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T.N.Seshan

Reasons : I would have nominated PVNarsimha Rao but the impact of T.N.Seshan made on electoral reforms which may be powerful than our economic reforms with no scandals involved made me to choose him as my choice- He showed the power of election commisiion to the indian people, He is a one man mission of real life (we see such persons only in movies).

How a single person can transform the entire society with his will power, determination and dedication to the nation.

Well, like everyhuman being he has some short falls- like autocratic & often arrogant behaviour. But I see them nothng before his good qualities.

So obviously he is my choice-A trend setter- leaving the office his prestigious office this year! this is my gesture to remeber him for REFORMING indian politics!!

From: Kishore.Bubna@professionals.com <bubnak@rpi.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 14:51:40 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Reasons : He is cool!

From: Hari.Raj@professionals.com <hariraj@freemark.com>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 13:00:40 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Reasons : A dynamic, fair, untainted and a very knowledgable person to fill the needs of Indian people.

From: Ravindra Pai <rpai@in.oracle.com>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 13:22:06 -0500

Person Nominated : T.N.Sheshan

Reasons : I nominate Sheshan because he is exactly the kind of personality that India needs at this time. He is cools, brash, efficent and ruthless sometimes. Most important, he is never invloved with any type of scam and scandals. He is honest and hard-working.

From: P.Kartik.Kumar@professionals.com <p.kartik.kumar@tek.com>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 06:27:57 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Vishwanathan Anand

Reasons : Among the best in Chess. Also one of the nicest persons around.

From: Rama Dayal <RamaDayal@aol.com>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 05:10:42 -0500

Person Nominated : T N Seshan

From: Sanjay Dayal <sanjay@vision-soft.com>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 05:05:43 -0500

Person Nominated : T N Seshan

Reasons : Lone camper in an otherwise wild jungle of indian politics and survivng it well along with taking care of some wild beasts.

From: dilip kumar <mulamalad@harpo.tnstate.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 00:20:57 -0500

Person Nominated : pv narasimha rao

Reasons : he is the most notable prime minister for his achivements in the economy as well as bringing the corruption known to the public

From: D.S.Reddy@professionals.com

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 20:16:56 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

From: Sanjay Parikh <GRASIM@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 21:58:00 -0500

Person Nominated : The Ordinary Indian

Reasons : My vote goes to the ordinary Indian citizen who in the face of dire adversity still has plenty of reasons to smile. To that Indian who has made a name for himself in all parts of the world. To that Indian who is corrupt, morally and otherwise, but still takes pleasure in pulling other more corrupt people down. To that Indian whom no politician can take for granted and to those who refrain from roasting alive the Indian cricket team when they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

From: Ram.Kudukoli@professionals.com <ramk@natinst.com>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 14:30:11 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Leander Paes

Reasons : A true hero. Winning the bronze meant a lot to medal starved Indians.

From: D.Bhalla@professionals.com <dbhalla@fox.tds.net>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 13:59:25 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Vihari Vajpayee

Reasons : He is the most dyanamic and honest politician of the day. All other politicians background is somewhat tainted. He proved to be a likeable choice of common man.

From: Rohithpal <rohith@hotmail.com>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 15:48:24 -0500

Person Nominated : Sachin Tendulkar

Reasons : For giving hope to Indian Cricket although they are not doing extreemly well he has proven that they can rise up to the occasion. He is trying to get India's Team of the Future" so lets all give him a helping hand... detractors just watch out, you will be eating your own words, and you will happily do it.

My man of the yeah is Sachin, Sachin and Sachin.

From: prabhakar.chandrashekar@professionals.com <chandrashek@harpo.tnstate.edu>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 10:45:31 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : p v narasimha rao

Reasons : the man who brought the corruption infront of the people.

From: Suketu.Shah@professionals.com <srs2707@lupu.njit.edu>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 10:26:05 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T. N. Seshan

Reasons : For great electoral reforms and implementation.

From: shobha.t@professionals.com <Ex36otic@aol.com>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 09:29:09 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : A B Vajpayee

Reasons : HE IS A STATES MAN , REST ARE MUNDANE POLITICIANS WE NEED HIM AS PM

From: Kumaravel.Jagasivamani@professionals.com <sivamani@vt.edu>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 08:59:49 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : M. Karunanidhi

Reasons : After being thrown out twice, Karunanidhi came back with a big victory, with the help of Jayalalitha's problems. However, he did not let it get to his head, and has performed very well as C.M. He has matured tremendously and even talks with rival Karnataka over the Cauvery issue are going well. He has brought water to Chennai through the Telugu-Ganga project and helped in getting representation in Union cabinet for TN. He has welcomed foreign investment in TN and has also improved the condition of Tamil in TN (such as by requiring all stores to have labels in Tamil). Overall, this is probably the best administration TN has had.

From: Manish.Sharma@professionals.com <msharma@empros.com>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 08:01:29 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Leander Paes

Reasons : He gave us a reason to smile after nearly half a century of dismal performances at the Olympics.

From: Muzammil.Hussain@professionals.com <mhussai1@mailhost.pd5.ford.com>

Date sent: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 06:48:27 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Farooq Abdullah

Reasons : Brought democracy back to J&K. This state of India is in utter disaster. Only an elected government can bring peace if his party would not have contested the elections the situation would not improve

From: Vinay.Sawardekar@professionals.com <bf032@cel.cummins.com>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 15:29:23 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Leander Paes

Reasons : No doubt Mr. T N Seshan and the likes of him have contributed so much to out nation, but I would not like to nominate them for the year 1996 because I feel the political situation was in their favour largely because of major reforms they implemented in the years 1993, 1994 and 1995.

I would like to nominate Leander Paes because I feel he is the only nominee who achieved something for the country that was unimaginable even in the next decade or two. One should also note that he achieved it with little or no support from the government, the media and the people.

From: Mukundh@professionals.com <mp01@engr.uark.edu>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 13:50:35 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : RAJINIKANTH

Reasons : For releasing Tamilnadu from the hands of corrupt and dictatorial rule of Jayalalitha and Sasikala.If not for him no one had the guts to oppose her or had the backing of the whole state. Inspite of having mass support ,he didn't exploit or misuse his status.

Hats off to him!!!

From: V.M.Raj@professionals.com <vmraj@flash.net>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 10:38:02 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Leander Paes

Reasons : Saved our countries pride

From: Shiv Shukla@professionals.com <skshukla@pacbell.net>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 12:03:16 -0500

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Bajpai

Reasons : First BJP prime minister. Not corrupt. Trust worthy.

From: Anurag@professionals.com <banerjee@kub.nl>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 07:35:34 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Arundhati Ghose

Reasons : a woman on top, who did need political correctness to show her mentle

From: ARUN.NAIR@professionals.com <ANAIR@vax.clarku.edu>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 06:26:33 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : P.V.NARASIMHA RAO

Reasons : HE DID THE BEST JOB HANDLING THE COUNTRY

From: MEENAKSHI TRISIL <st954b45@echidna.stu.cowan.edu.au>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:08:44 -0500

Person Nominated : MR.T.N.SESHAN

Reasons : I think he deserves this nomination for being such a honest person in the nation where nobody talks to you without being bribed first. He is a fearless man. Because of him there was a election in Kashmir. I am sure peace will be there soon. And i think he has got a very good sense of humour.

From: S.Jagadish@professionals.com <jagadish@post1.com>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 01:54:56 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T N Seshan

Reasons : By conducting one of the fairest and free-est elections in recent times, he has proved to the Indian public that elections are for the public's benefit. The lower %age of booth capturing etc. meant that the stranglehold of politicians over the election officials was slowly disappearing. This in itself is a major achievement. That apart, the conduction of the polls in J&K (both Parliamentary and Assembly) is another feather in his (and the Election Commission's) cap.

From: anil kumar chada <ankumar@top.eng.utoledo.edu>

Date sent: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 00:46:12 -0500

Person Nominated : p.v.narsimha rao

Reasons : He is responsible for new economic polocies, which will lead india into 21st century.

From: yogendra.sharma@professionals.com <sharma@am.seer.wustl.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 14:39:34 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : CMM Prem Kumar

Reasons : for his very thoughtful and bold and courageous way of working.

India do need the persons like him.

From: ramkumar@professionals.com <ramkumar@iastate.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 08:47:34 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : deve gowda

Reasons : good politician

From: sasi@professionals.com <sasi@liv.ac.uk>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 08:39:02 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : P V Narasimha Rao

Reasons : Since he made a history to become former PM with so many scams and criminal cases

From: Sampathkumar Anand <sampath@pc.jaring.my>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 07:07:57 -0500

Person Nominated : Kamal Hassan

Reasons : One individual who has consistently showing a seriousnessin what he does. No pranks! No take it easy attitude! and more importantly DOES NOT take the general public for a ride.

Every effort is sincere to take Indian cinema to a different level - particularly the Tamil cinema.

My nomination is Padmasri Kamalhassan who is sowing positive seeds in the history of Indian cinema which will grow in the years to come to give a different image in the world cinema.

From: Namit.Vaidya@professionals.com <nikhil@tamu.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 02:28:41 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Digvijay Singh

Reasons : An astute, canny and a sagacious politician, Digvijay Singh is doubtlessly the future Prime Minister of India, may be 7-10 years hence.

From: Dev.Raj@professionals.com <devraj@freemark.com>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 01:41:20 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Reasons : Simply the best and a dynamic leader .

From: Anil.Moolchandani@professionals.com <ufs00582@email.sjsu.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 00:43:11 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T N SESHAN

Reasons : I feel that Mr Seshan deserves the 'REDIFF PERSON OF THE YEAR' since he brought about the most needed poll reform in our country. He saw to itthat the largest democracy in the world went to the polls and elected a goverment without any major incident of violence.I feel that Mr Seshan's idea of photo ID'S is one of the most pioneering thoughts and shall solve our country's poll related problems.For all of the above reasons I feel that Mr Seshan is the Right choice.

From: gutlapalli surendra <gutlapallis@harpo.tnstate.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 02:53:01 -0500

Person Nominated : p v narasimha rao

Reasons : the best prime minister india ever had in all respects

From: sunil k jha <jhas@harpo.tnstate.edu>

Date sent: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 02:48:54 -0500

Person Nominated : p v narasimha rao

Reasons : even then there is no documented evidence he has been included in the all false cases it is a definetly all the politisians moves and the executive burocrats who are helping this kind of politicians . he was the prime minister for full 5 years why they did not open their mouth for solong if these charges are true? in my opinion cbi is worest which is unableto find the major culprits in the country this is a popet in the politicians.

From: gopu.appa.rao@professionals.com <gopua@harpo.tnstate.edu>

Date sent: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 13:03:54 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : prem kumar

Reasons : he is the person who is trying to keep up the indian judisial system

From: TUHIN.HALDER@professionals.com <halder@coe.wvu.edu>

Date sent: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:46:55 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Atal Bihari Vajpaye

Reasons : He showed the world, what you mean by by a true patriot and what price a country has to pay if elections are fought by criminals for self interest without issues.

From: Kalyan@professionals.com <kalyan@cis.ohio-state.edu>

Date sent: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:09:12 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : T.N.Seshan

Reasons : For the exemplary way the the general and state elections were conducted in India

From: SmrtO@professionals.com

Date sent: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:01:47 -0800 (PST)

Person Nominated : Cheif Justice Ahmedi

Reasons : As the chief Justice of India Mr. Ahmedi has made the judiciary very active. Under his leadership other judges are no longer passive; taking a cue almost all of them are taking initiative in restoring the rights of a common citizen. The active r

ole being played by the judiciary is very significant in an era where executive and legislature have become corrupt and insensetive to the needs of people. The credit of galvanizing the judiciary goes to the chief justice. It must have taken a tremendous

amount of courage to tackle the the threats and the lure of worldly pleasures offered to him.

Continued