AGE: 61
OCCUPATION: Leader of India's ruling party, the Indian National Congress
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: Indians love her, despite the fact she's not Indian, but an Italian-born Catholic who married into a famous and powerful family. (Her late husband, Rajiv, and mother-in-law Indira were both Prime Ministers.)
CON: Despite all that love, Gandhi decided not to push it: she ceded the Prime Minister's chair to economist Manmohan Singh.