Naresh is new Movie Artistes Association President!
The senior actor defeated his rival Sivaji Raja by 69 votes.
Senior actor Naresh was declared the new president of the Movie Artistes Association (MAA) after a decisive victory in the elections held on Sunday for all the posts. Unlike the previous election where Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were used, counting continued till the wee hours of the morning this time as only ballot paper was used.
In a first for a woman, Jeevitha was elected as general secretary while her husband Rajasekhar will be the executive vice president. Other victors include Rajiv Kanakala as treasurer, director and actor S.V. Krishna Reddy as one of the two vice-presidents and Hema, who contested individually. Sivaji Balaji and Gautam Raju will function as joint secretaries while popular personalities like Thanikella Bharani, Ali, Suresh Kondeti, Sai Kumar, Uttej, Tanish and Raja Ravindra found spots as executive members.
Interestingly, of the total 745 votes, only 472 actors cast their vote out of which 18 votes were declared invalid. Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Rana Daggubati, Nani, Sai Dharam Tej, Allari Naresh, Jamuna, Roja Ramani, Jayasudha, Priyamani and Archana were among the top celebrities who came to cast their vote. Senior actor Srikanth lost out to Rajasekhar while young actor Raj Tarun contested on Sivaji Raja’s panel for EC member and lost. In a curious turn of events, comedian Ali contested as EC member and got 308 votes — the highest for any candidate, despite not campaigning at all.