Mumbai, May 2 (IANS): Residents of the Maximum City of Mumbai picked Dr B.R. Ambedkar as the most admired personality.

This was revealed during a survey conducted by CVoter for IANS in the last week of April when people across all socio economic categories were asked a set of questions to mark Maharashtra Day which falls on May 1.

The respondents were further divided into two categories: those born in Maharashtra and those born outside the state. The question asked was: Who is the Marathi personality apart from Chhatrapati Shivaji you admire the most? More than 35 per cent of non Marathis picked Dr. Ambedkar as the first choice while more than 32 per cent of local Marathis made him their most admired personality. Interestingly, Dr. Ambedkar was not born in Maharashtra but in Mhow near Indore which is in Madhya Pradesh.

Sambhaji Maharaj was the second most admired personality with 16.5 per cent of the residents opting for him and was closely followed by Balasaheb Thackeray with 16.2 per cent of the vote. Famous freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who reinvigorated the Ganesh Chathurthi festival as a veiled revolt against the British came next with 9.5 per cent of the vote. Maverick activist Anna Hazare who led the now famous anti-corruption crusade against the UPA regime in 2011 and acquired global fame came next with 7.2 per cent of the vote. Surprisingly, the recently deceased Lata Mangeshkar who is universally acknowledged as the Nightingale of India managed to get just about 3.5 per cent of the vote.