The South Indian Artists Association aka Nadigar Sangam election date was announced recently by Electoral Officer Retd. Judge E Padmanabhan. Elections will be held for the post of President, currently held by Nasser, two Vice Presidents held by Ponvannan and Karunas, the post of General Secretary held by Vishal, the Treasurer post held by Karthi and the 24-member Executive Committee on June 23.
The applications are currently open and the list of contestants will be announced on June 14 by the electoral officer.
The contestants' list for Nasser's team, also called 'Pandavar Ani', for elections have been announced. Nasser would be contesting once again for the post of President in this elections along with his same team members Karthi and Vishal for Treasurer and Secretary respectively. For the post of Vice President, actor Ponvannan who is the current office bearer would not be contesting and he would be replaced by S Murugan aka Poochi Murugan. Actor Karunas who at present is the other Vice President would be contesting once again for the same post.
For the Executive Committee from Pandavar Ani, a tentative list is currently circulating comprisin of Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Prasanna, Sriman, Pasupathy, Ramana, Nanda, Thalapthy Dinesh, Sonia Bose, Kutty Padmini, Prem, Rajesh, Gerald Milton, Kalimuthu, Ratnappa, MA Prakash, Ajay Rathnam, Jr Balaiah, Hema, Kush, (MGR) Latha, Nithin Sathya, Parutheeveeran Saravanan, Adhi and Vasudevan.
The opposition faction contesting against the existing team is also being speculated for months. Actor STR, his father T Rajendar and Radikaa Sarathkumar are expected to contest opposite Nasser and team. Actor Khushbu too has announced that she would be contesting in the upcoming elections from Nasser's Pandavar Ani.
விரக்தியில் உங்களை வீழ்த்த காத்திருப்போர் உங்கள் விரோதியல்ல உங்களோடு சம காலமாக திரையில் வந்தவர்களே...இருந்தும் #தர்மம் தலை நிமிர்ந்து நிற்க #பாண்டவர் அணி வெற்றி பெற எதிரணியின் வியூகத்தை உடைத்தெறியும் மகத்தான #சக்தியாய் உங்களின் பங்கு அமைய வாழ்த்துகிறேன் @khushsundar pic.twitter.com/K5A0uwV4zi
— Mahendran..விவசாயி_விசுவாசி (@iycmahe) June 5, 2019
A section of actors who are unhappy with General Secretary Vishal have also announced that they will contest opposite to his team. Udhaya who campaigned for Vishal in the previous election has announced he will contest opposite Vishal. Udhaya has turned against him since he was not satisfied with Vishal's performance in various circumstances. Actor-producer Ishari K Ganesh is also likely to contest opposite Vishal Krishna and team in the upcoming elections.
It may be noted that Nasser, Vishal and team won the Nadigar Sangam elections in the year 2016 after a battle and took charge putting an end to nine-year-long tenure of R Sarathkumar, Radha Ravi and their team.
The current office bearers, President Nasser, General Secretary Vishal, Treasurer Karthi and others were keen on constructing the building as promised in their election manifesto and have been raising funds for the purpose through different means. Today, over three years later, the Nadigar Sangam building still remains incomplete.
(Content provided by Digital Native)