Manchu Vishnu was elected president of the Movie Artists Association in a fierce contest on Sunday between a panel headed by Vishnu and Prakash Raj. Vishnu defeated Prakash Raj.
Barring the post of Executive Vice President going to Prakash Raj’s panel, all the other newly elected office bearers were from Vishnu’s panel. Ten supporters of Vishnu and eight supporters of Prakash Raj were also elected members of the executive committee.
Raghu Babu defeated Jivita Rajasekhar by seven votes to become the General Secretary and Srikanth defeated Babu Mohan for the post of Executive Vice President. Madala Ravi was elected as Vice President, Gautam Raju as General Secretary and Shiv Balaji as Treasurer.
The election was the culmination of six weeks of intense campaigning and frequent exchanges of serious allegations by both panels. 665 out of 883 eligible voters took part in voting at a school premises in Jubilee Hills, where police had made tight security arrangements. Film lovers in large numbers gathered near the school to take selfies with the actors.
Rival panel members clashed after Prakash Raj’s supporters campaigned inside the polling booth. Vishnu’s father Mohan Babu expressed anger. Shiv Balaji and Hema, who contested against each other, also had a fight. The Returning Officer extended the polling by an hour as a large number of voters were standing in the queue even after the 2 pm deadline.
Mahesh Babu, Prabhas, Rana, Jr NTR, Venkatesh, Naga Chaitanya, Allu Arjun and Allu Sirish, Ravi Teja, Vijay Deverakonda, Anushka, Rakul Preet, Ileana were prominent actors who did not vote due to shooting or other reasons. , Trisha, Hansika and Niharika.
Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan, Balakrishna, Jayaprada and all other stars participated. Genelia had come from Mumbai to cast her vote. He said that the Telugu film industry is his home.