Ilias Kanchan and Zayed Khan were elected President and General Secretary respectively in yesterday's Film Artistes' Association election. The artistes, who participated from different panels, will now take over the association's duties for the years 2022-2024.

Among the other posts, Dipjol and Rubel have been elected the Vice Presidents jointly, whereas Symon Sadik will serve as Assistant General Secretary. The Joint Secretary post will be occupied by actress Shahnoor, while Mamnun Emon is the new secretary for culture and sports.

Other members of the executive panel are Anjana, Rozina, Aruna Biswas, Sucharita, Ali Raj, Moushumi and Chunnu from the Misha-Zayed Panel, and Ferdous, Keya, Jasmine and Amit Hasan from the Ilias-Nipun panel.

The film fraternity had an eventful day with the seventeenth edition of the Bangladesh Film Artistes' Association elections.The election, which was held at BFDC this morning, was held in a festive environment with artistes who came to vote for and support their desired panel.

The association had 428 voters this year, out of which 365 votes were cast by the members. The votes were counted until 4:30 am in the morning.

Chief Election Commissioner Pirzada Shahidul Harun was the last voter to cast his vote at 6:10 pm yesterday.

According to the EC, the election was completed in a fair manner. authorities of BFDC had restricted the entry of those who are not voters or candidates, to maintain the health safety protocols during the pandemic.

However, the elections were not without controversy, as Zayed Khan was accused of 'bribing candidates' during the proceedings, by Nipun. Zayed, however, denied all allegations.

The festive environment, however, could not be mired by controversies as senior actors like Asaduzzaman Noor, Anwara, Dolly Zahur, Dilara Zaman and Sharmili Ahmed showed up to vote. Actors from opposing panels were seen embracing each other, even during the time the votes were being casted.

Veteran actor Zahid Hasan even went as far as to claim, in jest, that this was more festive than a political election, while the eminent Alamgir told the media that this was, indeed, a free and fair election. -Daily Star