Election Commission is NDTV India's Icon of the Last 21 Years

The Election Commission of India was honoured as India's Icon of the Last 21 Years by television channel NDTV at a star-studded ceremony here last night when people from various walks of life were feted for their achievements.

Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Oscar Award-winning music composer A R Rahman were chosen as India's Icon of the Last 21 Years in Entertainment.

Cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the honour in Sports and Infosys founder-chairman N R Narayana Murthy in Business.

The awards were given to mark NDTV's 21 years in television broadcasting. NDTV's annual Indian of the Year awards were also given away at the function, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar being honoured as the Political Leader of the Year, badminton star Saina Nehwal as the Sportsperson of the Year, actor Ranbir Kapoor as the Male Entertainer of the Year, actress Priyanka Chopera as the Female Entertainer of the Year and industrialist Anand Mahindra as the Businessperson of the Year.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was the chief guest at the function, which was also attended by, among others, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani, Mr Nitish Kumar, Union Ministers Praful Patel and Shashi Tharoor, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and industrialist Rahul Bajaj.

Also present were actors Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, film-makers Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap, actors Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, tennis player Sania Mirza, former cricketer Ajay Jadeja, A R Rahman, lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actress-wife Shabana Azmi, shooter Raghvendra Singh Rathore and actress Kalki Koelchin.

The evening was marked by a special performance of Rahman's Oscar Award-winning song, "Jai Ho" from the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

Rukhsana Kausar of Jammu & Kashmir, who fought back terrorists, was honoured with a special Bravery Award at the function, while Aradhana Gupta was named Extraordinary Indian for battling against several odds in the Ruchika Girhotra case in Chandigarh. Babar Ali from Murshidabad was also given the Extraordinary Indian award for running an afternoon school for underprivileged children in his village.

The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghathan was honoured with the LIC Unsung Hero award for spearheading the movement for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy while Karan Johar was chosen as the Social Networking Icon of the Year for making tweeting popular, especially in Bollywood.

Anurag Kashyap got a special jury mention for making unconventional cinema popular and Dr Shashi Tharoor was honoured as a New Age Politician for using new media to reach out to people.

The winners of the awards were chosen through a multi-layered process guided by a jury that comprised Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Country Head, HSBC India, Ms Shabana Azmi, social activist Aruna Roy, chess player Vishwanathan Anand, eminent advocate Fali S Nariman, NDTV Chairman Prannoy Roy and NDTV 24X7 Senior Managing Editor Sonia Varma Singh.

NNN