Tollywood's MAA elections 2019: Actor Naresh defeats Shivaji Raja with 69 votesMar 11 (AZINS) Telugu actor-producer Naresh was elected the new president of the Movie Artists Association (MAA) of Tollywood as a result of the election conducted on March 10. Naresh, who was the general secretary of MAA, contested against the incumbent president of the association, Shivaji Raja. Naresh and Shivaji gained 268 and 199 votes respectively.

Jeevitha Rajasekhar who was on Naresh’s panel has been elected the general secretary while her husband and actor Rajasekhar is the new executive Vice President. Rajeev Kanakala from Shivaji’s panel won over Kota Shankara Rao for the post of treasurer. Haranath Babu who contested for the post of vice-president was defeated by Hema.

Actor Srikanth director SV Krishna Reddy, actor Banerjee, actor Raghu Babu, and others contested on Shivaji's panel to be the executive vice-president and would form the managing committee if they won.

Interestingly, just like in the general elections, there was heavy mudslinging that happened in this election too in the process of campaigning. In fact, for those uninitiated, the MAA was involved in a massive scandal last year when Naresh accused Shivaji of misappropriation of funds collected for a fundraising event in the US. Though things seemed to have cleared out, the duo eventually contested against each other.

It is to be seen if any issues will be addressed by this new committee. Notably, the Telugu Film Chamber hastily started a Sexual Harassment Redressal Panel (SHRP) in 2018 after Sri Reddy’s protest became an international event with everyone talking about sexual harassment in Telugu film industry.