Popular actor Misha Sawdagar was elected president from the Misha-Dipjol panel after the nail-biting 18th edition of the Bangladesh Film Artistes’ Association elections held on Friday, which also declared veteran actor Monowar Hossain Dipjol as the new general secretary.

They defeated prominent actor Mahmud Koli and actress Nipun Akter from the Koli-Nipun panel for the respective positions.

Participated in this biennale election from two different panels, the newly elected executive body will run the association for the term between 2024 and 2026.

Khorshed Alam Khosru, the chief election commissioner, announced the results on Saturday morning at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) in Dhaka.

Newly elected president Misha got a total of 265 votes. He was the past president of the 2020-2022 panel and the defeated candidate in the much-controversial 2022 election who lost to the immediate past president Ilias Kanchan.

Representing the Misha-Dipjol panel, the new general secretary Dipjol got 225 votes, while his opponent and the immediate past general secretary actress Nipun received 209 votes.

Masum Parvez Rubel with 231 votes and DA Tayeb with 234 votes secured the positions of vice presidents in the election from the Misha-Dipjol panel. Among other candidates, Arman became the joint general secretary with  237 votes.

Joy Chowdhury became the organizing secretary with 255 votes; Alexander Bow, the secretary of international affairs, received 296 votes; Jacky Alamgir, the office and publicity secretary, received 245 votes; Mamnun Hasan Emon, the culture and sports secretary, received 235 votes; and Komol became the treasurer winning 231 votes.

Nine candidates were elected from Misha-Dipjol panel to serve as executive members while two executive members were elected the Koli-Nipun panel.

From the Misha-Dipjol panel, Sucharita (228), Rozina (243), Ali Raj (239), Subrata, Dilara Yasmin (218), Shahnur (245), Nana Shah (210), Ratna Kabir (263), and Chhunu (248) became the new executive members while Riana Parvin Poly (220) and Soni Rahman (230) were elected from the Koli-Nipun panel.

Amid a festive atmosphere, the voting activities for the biennale election were conducted on Friday under strict security at the BFDC premise from 9 am to 6:20 pm.

According to the sources of the Election Commission, 475 votes were cast out of 570 votes. The EC ruled out 41 votes for miscellaneous reasons, therefore 434 votes were finally counted.

The Chief Election Commissioner for this election was Khorshed Alam alongside two EC members BH Nishan and AJ Rana.