India-born British novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, voted the best of the Bookers in a public poll in Britain for his Midnight's Children, has even failed to make it to the shortlist for the '2008 Man Booker Prize'.

In fact, Sir Salman's 16th-century epic set in India and Italy, The Enchantress of Florence, was seen widely as a serious contender for Britain's foremost fiction award.

But, he was given the thumbs down by the judges who instead chose two first-time novelists, Indian scribe Aravind Adiga (33) and Australian screenwriter Steve Toltz (36), among six authors whom they singled out for the 50,000 pounds award.

The other four writers include Amitav Ghosh (selected for his multilayered epic 'Sea of Poppies'), Sebastian Barry, Linda Grant and Philip Hensher.

"I think Rushdie's writing is patchy, to be honest. He has written some good books and some not-so-good books. There is no doubting the man's massive intellect. But I have never known a book split the public so much as Midnight's Children.”

"People will secretly confess to not finishing. Others will secretly confess to hating it. For others, it is the one book they would take to their grave," Hardeep Singh Kohli, a member of the judging panel, told The Guardian.

Agreed the chair of the judges, Michael Portillo: The Enchantress of Florence simply wasn't one of the top six. We certainly had passionate debates -- but there was not a particularly passionate debate over this book."

He called Adiga's The White Tiger and its depiction of corruption a "fascinating book" and Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole and its story of a man who could not decide whether to love or kill his paranoid dad as "wonderfully irreverent". The winner of the prize is to be announced on Oct 14.