German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the eight people shortlisted for the TIME Person of the Year. The magazine’s editors had included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani and Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai in the top 58 contenders, which has now been brought down to eight people. Modi won the readers’ poll for the title last year, and was shortlisted for the magazine’s award as well.
Others in the top eight this year are Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, a collective of Black Lives Matter activists, transgender star Caitlyn Jenner, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. PTI reported that this year, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders won the online readers’ poll for TIME Person of the Year, beating some of the world's best-known politicians, activists and cultural figures like Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and Pope Francis.
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