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Olympian wrestler and newly elected Congress MLA Vinesh Phogat was the most Googled Indian this year, according to a Google Trends report on the most searched Indians in 2024. This has been a year of heartbreak and new beginnings for the gritty wrestler. While her shock disqualification at the Paris Olympics was a massive low, Ms Phogat started a new journey after being elected in the Haryana polls.
The second and third most-searched Indians were Bihar Chief Minister and JDU chief Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan, respectively. Searches for both politicians peaked around the counting day for the Lok Sabha election. While Nitish Kumar's party managed 12 seats in this general election, Chirag Paswan stepped out of his father Ram Vilas Paswan's shadow and won all five seats his party contested in Bihar.
The next two names on the list were cricketer Hardik Pandya, who was in the news for his performance on the field and his separation from wife Natasa Stankovic, and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, whose party put up a stellar show in the Andhra Pradesh election.
Cricketers Shashank Singh and Abhishek Sharma are among the most Googled this year. In the top 10 is model and actor Poonam Pandey, who made headlines after her death stunt in February. She later said it was aimed at raising awareness about cervical cancer and also apologised.
Radhika Merchant, who married industrialist Mukesh Ambani's son in July, was also among the top 10 Googled names in India. So was badminton star Laksha Sena who finished fourth at Paris Olympics, the best ever performance by a male shuttler from India.