Leading lights of Tollywood cast votes in closely fought MAA elections

HYDERABAD: Megastar Chiranjeevi as well as leading actors Pawan Kalyan, Balakrishna and Nagarjuna were among the notable Tollywood personalities who cast their votes on Sunday to elect new office-bearers of the Movie Artists Association (MAA), the apex body of the Telugu film industry.

Murali Mohan, Mohan Babu, Jaya Prada, Rajendra Prasad, Roja, Babu Mohan, Naga Babu and other leading lights of the industry also participated in the vote. Polling, which began at 8 a.m. at the Jubilee Hills Public School, was progressing smoothly.

It was to end at 2 p.m., but was extended by an hour by the election officer, Krishna Mohan. Till 1.30 p.m., 56 per cent of the voters had cast their ballots. Out of the 925 MAA members, 883 are eligible to vote. Of them, 503 had cast their ballots.

The counting of votes will be taken up at 4 p.m. and is likely to continue till 8 p.m., when the results are slated to be declared.

MAA members were voting to elect a 26-member executive comprising the president, general secretary, two joint secretaries, treasurer, and 18 committee members.

Retired employees of the Telangana Cooperative Society made elaborate arrangements for the polling in adherence with Covid-19 protocols. As many as 50 policemen and women were deployed as part of the security measures.

After a bitter campaign between the panels led by acclaimed actor Prakash Raj and actor-producer Manchu Vishnu, scenes of camaraderie were witnessed on the polling day. The two contenders battling for the post of MAA president shook hands and embraced each other to declare that they are all one.

Prakash Raj also shook hands with Mohan Babu, who's also Vishnu's father, and took his blessings. Mohan Babu had arrived early at the polling booth to bless his son and claimed that the panel enjoyed support of majority of voters.

Megastar and MAA founding president Chiranjeevi said he had cast his vote as per his conscience. He said that whenever the MAA elections were held, the same acrimony was witnessed and called for putting an end to it. Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan was one of the first to cast his votes. Talking to reporters, the Jana Sena president declined to name the panel he votes for saying this would amount to influencing voters. He said MAA elections would have no bearing on the friendship between his brother Chiranjeevi and Mohan Babu. Pawan said the film industry will not split due to MAA polls. (IANS)

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