The poll was carried out to find out what the public mood was like on who should be the next Rashtrapati. With the UPA, and now even the NDA, reluctant to back Kalam for a second term, the chances of the scientist-turned-President have almost completely receded. But among the aam aadmi, the president has clearly struck a chord. President Kalam got more than 1,46,000 votes out of the 3.4 lakh votes cast in the web poll, over 43 per cent. His closest contender was the Vice-President and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who polled 100,712 votes, less than 30 per cent.

The vote for Kalam was summarised by Ajit Kamath from Bangalore, who said, “President Kalam is above politics. He is the kind of person who inspires us to work harder and to believe that you can be honest and make a mark in public life.”

Surprisingly, Infotech icon NR Narayana Murthy didn’t do quite so well. He was pushed to third place, with 63,571 votes, around 18 per cent of the total cast. Narayana Murthy has been projected in some quarters as the kind of apolitical person that urban India in particular would like to see as the next President.

But at least Murthy could claim that nearly one in every five who voted in the web poll supported him. The politicians in the reckoning, with the sole exception of Shekhawat, had a rough ride. Not a single other politician got more than 3 per cent of the votes, a clear sign that the public is keener on a non-politician as President. Somnath Chatterjee, Pranab Mukherjee and Sushilkumar Shinde—all prime candidates for the top job—did not quite cut ice with the webworld.

Another interesting aspect of the poll: Amitabh Bachchan, the Bollywood superstar whose name was casually thrown up by the Samajwadi Party some months ago, got 4,925 votes, less than 2 per cent of the total. It’s a sign that while the people may want a non-politician as President, it’s not glamour that they are looking for.