Sarath Kumar maintains lead but Vishal overtakes Radha Ravi

Chennai: The elections for the South Indian Film Artistes Association (Nadigar Sangam) held in Chennai today could throw up mixed results with President Sarath Kumar maintaining a slender lead over rival Nasser but Vishal and Karthi recovered lost ground to get ahead of Radha Ravi and SSR Kannan for the posts of General Secretary and Treasurer.

When counting of postal votes commenced for the South Indian Film Artistes Association (Nadigar Sangam) elections held in Chennai on October 18, 2015, the Sarath Kumar established clear leads for almost all the posts. While Sarath Kumar maintained a clear lead in postal ballots, the gap narrowed with counting of votes cast directly by actors in Chennai today. Vishal overtook Radha Ravi in the contest for General Secretary, Karthi got ahead of SSR Kannan for the post of Treasurer.

President Sarath Kumar secured 893, ahead of Nasser who polled 792 votes in the election for the post of President, 21 votes were said to be invalid, with two-third of the votes counted so far.

The elections and counting were being undertaken with the assistance of the Madras High Court.

For the post of Treasurer, S S R Kannan, who led in the postal ballots, trailed later as actor Karthi was ahead with 754 votes against 728 votes of Kannan.
 
General secretary Radha Ravi who led in the postal ballots with 503, ahead of Vishal with 302 votes, was trailing marginally behind the young actor after counting of direct votes was taken up. Vishal was leading with 1,109 votes while Radha Ravi was behind with 793 votes, with two-thirds of the votes counted.

Actors Vijaykumar and T R Silambarasan, both prominent candidates of the Sarath Kumar group, were  leading after postal ballots were counted.

Elaborate police security had been provided right from the morning at St Ebbas School, the venue for the polling. Actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan were among those who cast their votes today.

While Rajinikanth remained neutral, Kamal Haasan and Sivakumar had thrown their weight behind the Vishal group, making the election a fiercely fought one.

The Sarath Kumar group was also ahead in postal ballots for the post of two vice presidents, Treasurer and executive committee.