Ilias Kanchan elected President, Zayed Khan General Secretary

Ilias Kanchan and Zayed Khan were elected President and General Secretary respectively in yesterday’s Film Artistes’ Association election for 2022-24 term.
A total of 43 candidates contested for 21 posts in the election. Among others, 41 candidates contested in two panels named Elias Kanchan-Nipun panel and Misa-Zayed panel. Elias Kanchan and Misha Sawdagar contested for the post of president while Zayed Khan and Nipun contested for the post of general secretary.
Although 428 artistes were eligible to cast their votes in the election, 365 votes were cast. The voting started at 9:12am and ended at 5:12pm.
Ilias Kanchan bagged 191 votes while his contestant Misa Sawdagar got 148 votes. Besides, Zayed Khan bagged 176 votes and Nipun bagged 163 votes.
Dipjol and Rubel were elected vice-presidents and Joy Chowdhury international affairs secretary from Misha-Zayed panel.
Saimon Sadiq was elected co-general secretary, actress Shahnoor joint secretary, Mamnun Hasan Emon culture and sports secretary and Arman office and publicity secretary from Ilias Kanchan-Nipun panel.
The executive council members comprise Anjana, Rozina, Aruna Biswas, Suchorita, Moushumi, Aliraj and Chunnu from Misa-Zayed panel and Ferdous, Keya, Jasmin and Amit Hasan from Kanchan-Nipun panel.
Pirzada Shahidul Harun was chief election commissioner while BH Nishan and Bazlur Rashid Chowdhury were the election commissioners and Sohanur Rahman Sohan was the chairman of the appeal board.
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.