The voting system itself had a loophole. Just peoeple used it lawfully. Now, its ethical or unethical, only god knows. In American Idol, the lines are open only for 2 hours after it is aired. Whereas, Sony opened it right from the beginning, before even the first singer sang, and kept the lines open till the last moment. This is very bizarre.
In one of Amey's interview, he mentioned that he exhausted all his savings during Indian Idol. It looks one should have wealth to participate in these SMS bases talent search.
If anyone had noticed Sandeep when he went into bottom 3, always his face showed surprise and looked into audience. But all said and done, his family made a good investment and reaped the benefits of the investment. And any calculated guy would do the same in future as well.