Nadigar Sangam elections: Vijay, Suriya, Vikram cast their votes; Rajinikanth blames ‘unfortunate’ delay for his absence

The Lok Sabha elections and even simultaneous assembly polls in some states were the talk of the town till last month, but the buzz is not any less for the Nadigar Sangam elections. The polls for the film artists’ body, officially known as the South Indian Artistes' Association (SIAA), held in Tamil Nadu on Sunday saw the who’s who of Kollywood turn up, while many were conspicuous by their absence. Vijay, Suriya, Vikram, Vishal were among those who fulfilled their duty by casting their votes, while Rajinikanth rued the ‘strange and unfortunate’ delay in receiving his postal vote to give the polls a miss. 

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Vijay, Suriya, Vikram, made typical entries, as one would expect, escorted by their entourage, as the crowd immediately gathered to catch their glimpse at the St.Ebas Higher Secondary School in Mylapore. 

Veterans Khushbu Sundar, Shivakumar, were among the others who arrived at the venue to cast their votes. Arya, Karthi, were some of the other celebrities seen at the venue.

Nasser, who is current President of the union, too was snapped on his way to the venue.  General Secretary Vishal said, "I thank the court which intervened timely and made this elections possible.I am the General Secy, if I have to make everyone happy than I will have to keep an eye on everyone,this is not possible. This election is of money power vs integrity."

Other biggies like Kamal Haasan and Ajith were yet to arrive at the time of publishing this story. 

READ: IN PICTURES | Tollywood Stars Suriya, Ajith Kumar, Jyothika, Shalini Kumar And Karthi Cast Their Votes This Lok Sabha Elections 2019

Meanwhile, a day before, Rajinikanth had tweeted, “I am currently shooting in Mumbai. I received my postal vote for the Nadigar Sangam elections only at 6:45pm this evening, despite the efforts I took to receive it earlier. I regret that I was unable to cast my vote because of this delay. It is strange and unfortunate. This should not have happened ...[sic]."

 The Nadigar Sangam elections are being held for various positions of the union of actors and technicians of the Tamil film industry. 

The contest this time is between the Vishal-led Pandavar Ani and the K Bhagyaraj-led Swami Sankaradas Ani.  While incumbent Vishal will be contesting against Ishri Ganesh for the General Secretary’s post, K Bhagyaraj will hope to beat Nasser to be the new President. Karthi and Prasanth are the contenders for the treasurer’s post. 

As per reports, the construction of the Nadigar Sangam building in Chennai is one of the main factors in the election. While Vishal reportedly beat Sarathkumar by raising the this issue in 2015, the work on the building is yet to be completed. 

The court had allowed the elections to be held after it was called off over objections from the District Registrar of Societies over electoral rolls.