Registrar of Societies cancels high stake Nadigar Sangam elections

The Registrar of Societies on Wednesday cancelled the Nadigar Sangam elections which was scheduled to be held on June 23 citing reasons that many rules of the association have been violated. The decision of sudden cancellation of the elections comes as a major blow to the embattled union of the Tamil actors as well as to both parties, Nassar-Vishal's Pandavar Ani and Bhagyaraj-Iswari Ganesan's Shankaradas Ani.

Chennai: The Nadigar Sangam elections, which were scheduled to be held on June 23 amidst various controversies, has been cancelled by the Registrar of Societies citing violation of several rules of the association.

The decision of sudden cancellation of the elections comes as a major blow to the embattled union of the Tamil actors as well as to both parties, Nassar-Vishal's Pandavar Ani and Bhagyaraj-Iswari Ganesan's Shankaradas Ani.

Based on a complaint from 61 members on June 6, the Registrar has decided to peruse the matter further and accordingly decide the next date for elections.

The 61 member team had complained that they were removed from the voters' list by Pandavar Ani to skew the election results in their favour.

In the response letter to the Registrar dated June 17, Pandavar Ani's Vishal stated that out of 61 members, 44 have been changed to amateur artists, 4 have been suspended based on disciplinary action, rest 13 only are eligible to vote. The letter also states that the members did not submit any details when the Sangam was preparing a list for its “Data Base”.

Earlier, on Wednesday, members of Pandavar Ani including Vishal, Nassar, Karthi and Poochi Murugan met Banwarilal Purohit, the Governor of Tamil Nadu and submitted a petition underlining the problem they face in conducting the elections. “We wanted protection in conducting fair elections and we’ve submitted our petition to the Governor,” Vishal told reporters.

On the other hand, Nassar said that the party will be taking the next legal step and agreed that the final list was approved by the Registrar. He, however, refused to answer when the list was submitted. "It was all done legally," he said.

The Registrar further observed that any taken by Nassar and his team of office bearers cannot hold since their term ended in April.

“Based on the agreement made during the 65th General Body Meeting, the present team’s extended period ended by April 2019. The notification for election has come after this extended period and hence this decision needs to be reviewed. Until then the election campaigns and other related activities will have to be stopped," the notice read.

Meanwhile, Poochi Murugan said, "We’ve submitted the right list as per Societies Act. This is a motivated move."