The election to the Bangladesh Film Artistes’ Association was held amid festive mood and tight security on the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation premises on Friday.
According to the election commission office, 570 artistes were eligible to cast their votes in the polls to elect executive committee members of the association. The voting was held from 9:30am to 5:30pm with a one-hour break from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Among the voters, 475 cast their ballot to elect executive committee members of the BFAA for the next two-year term, 2024-2026, according to the commission.
A total of 48 candidates, including six independent candidates, contested against 21 posts in the polls and in two panels, namely, Misa Sawdagar-Monowar Hossain Dipjol and Mahmud Koli-Nipun Akhter.
A big screen was set up beside the study room of the Film Directors’ Association to display the situation inside the polling booth to maintain transparency.
In the Misa-Dipjol panel, Misa Sawdagar contested for president while DA Tayeb and Masum Parvez Rubel for vice-presidents, Monowar Hossain Dipjol for general secretary, Arman for assistant general secretary, Joy Chowdhury for organisational secretary, Alexander Bo for international affairs secretary, Jaki Alomgir for office and publicity secretary, Don for culture and sports secretary and Komol for treasurer posts.
‘The election was held in a festive mood. Our panel is very much confident about winning the election,’ said Misa Sawdagar.
‘I think that all film artistes will work together for the development of local film industry,’ mentioned Misa Sawdagar.
Besides, Ali Raj, Rozina, Shuchorita, Subrata, Dilara Yasmin, Shahnur, Nana Shah, Ratna Kabir, Chunnu, Sanju John and Firoz Shahi contested for executive council member posts from the Misa-Dipjol panel.
In the Koli-Nipun panel, Mahmud Koli contested for president while Amit Hasan and Danny Sidak for vice-presidents, Nipun Akhter for general secretary, Bappy Shah for assistant general secretary, Anjana Rahman for organisational secretary, Maruf Akib for international affairs secretary, Kabila for office and publicity secretary, Mamnun Emon for culture and sports secretary and Azad Khan for treasurer posts.
Amit Hasan said, ‘This election is like a festival for film artistes. We want to work for the artistes and for the development of our film industry.’
Amit Hasan also expressed his hope for winning the election.
Besides, Sujata Azim, Nader Chowdhury, Pirzada Shahidul Harun, Poly, Jasmin Akhter, Tanvir Tonu, Md Saiful, Sadia Mirza, Sony Rahman, Helena Jahangir, Shah Sabbir Chowdhury Saif contested for executive council member posts from the Koli-Nipun panel.
Moreover, Srabon Shah contested for general secretary while Yousuf Khan, Nasrin, Niranjan Sarkar, Badol Sheikh and Swapna for executive council member posts independently.
Srabon Shah said, ‘I will work for film artistes and the industry whether I win or not.’
Popular actor Ananta Jalil expressed his satisfaction with the environment on the BFDC premises on polling day.
‘The voting is going on with discipline. I hope that the association will work to produce at least one film every year and to promote all local films for the development of the industry,’ said Ananta Jalil.
After casting vote, actress Ashna Habib Bhabna said, ‘I voted for the first time in the polls of the association. Artistes face different kinds of hassles during shooting. I hope that the association leaders would take steps regarding the issue.’
Vote counting was under way when this report was written.
Khorshed Alam Khosru was the chairman while AJ Rana and BH Nishan were the members of the election commission while Shamsul Alam was the chairman of the appeal board.
Khorshed Alam Khosru, in the morning, said that 19 hours were required to count 570 votes if it took two minutes to count each ballot.
‘However, we will try our best to complete vote counting and announce the result as soon as possible,’ ended Khorshed Alam Khosru.
