Latest News | Elections Held in 2019 for SIAA Valid: HC

Chennai, Feb 23 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Wednesday held that the elections conducted to the South Indian Artistes Association (SIAA) are valid.

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A division bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Mohammed Shaffiq, which upheld the elections conducted on June 23, 2019 as valid, directed the authorities concerned to take up the counting process.

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Though the judges said that the counting and declaration of the results should be made in four weeks, they restrained the authorities from declaring the results for three weeks.

This followed a plea from the counsel for the aggrieved parties to grant time to appeal against the order before the Supreme Court.

The judges ordered the election authorities of SIAA to secure the ballot boxes, kept in the lockers of the South Indian Bank, and carry out the process for counting votes.

The election to the SIAA had been entangled in long legal battles after the issuance of the poll notification in 2018.

After the tenure of the office-bearers -- actors Vishal, Nassar and Karthi -- ended in 2018, their term was extended by six months with the approval of the executive committee. Subsequently, the polls were announced and a retired judge of the High Court -- E Padmanabhan -- was announced as the election officer. The election was conducted under his supervision on June 23, 2019 when the present legal battle started.

Putting an end to the issue for the time being, the bench passed the present order today.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)