Sahila Chadha came in second with 357 votes, followed by Vikas Verma with 349. Veteran actor Deepak Parasher received 348 votes, while Kunickaa Sadanand secured 312 votes.
The elections, conducted by the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), came amid a period of turmoil within CINTAA following internal differences and resignations from its previous committee.
Other prominent names elected to the 15-member committee included Varsha Usgaonkar Sharma, who received 306 votes, Nagma Morarji with 290 and Nimai Bali with 266.
Arjun/Feroz Khan polled 250 votes, Armaan Tahil 237, Shehzad Khan 234 and Manish Kumar Chaturvedi 219. Sapan Kumar Bhattacharya received 197 votes, Ramkumar Singh 184 and Ramakant Borude 176.
The election was held after the court permitted the polling process to go ahead on September 12, clearing the way for CINTAA members to elect a new executive committee.
FWICE president B. N. Tiwari welcomed the election of the new team and highlighted the strong representation of women in the committee. He said Upasana Singh, who led the vote count, has been vocal about artistes’ rights. Kunickaa Sadanand, Varsha Usgaonkar Sharma and Nagma Morarji are among the other prominent women elected.
Tiwari said the committee would be constituted within a week and would formally begin functioning after October 26.
“Earlier, the artistes’ association was working largely on its own, but now the entire Federation and all 36 unions will stand shoulder to shoulder with CINTAA. I would request the newly elected members to also reach out to those who are upset or have distanced themselves from the association,” Tiwari said.
“Those who contested the election did so because they wanted to serve the association. If there are capable and genuinely committed people among them, they should also be taken along so that we can work together in the interest of CINTAA,” he added.
Tiwari said the Federation would invite the newly elected members for discussions within a week as part of the process of putting the new committee in place.
“Within a week, we will invite all of you to the Federation and the committee will be formally constituted. It will begin functioning from October 26. There are also court cases that we had initiated, and we will examine how those matters should now be taken forward or withdrawn. The new body has been elected, and I am confident that everything will move forward positively,” he said.
The new committee is expected to decide its office-bearers and distribute responsibilities among its members as it prepares to take charge of the artistes’ body.
