The emotion-charged scenes of actor Vishal addressing the media outside his vanity van and actor Sarath Kumar denying he manhandled Vishal inside the polling booth at St. Ebbas School here on Sunday can put in the shade some of the racy, action-packed films that we have seen in recent times.
The mild scuffle prompted the authorities to stop polling till order was restored.
“Let the elections go on. I don’t mind being attacked, but there were women beside me. It was Kicha Ramesh who attacked me,” said Mr. Vishal.
While Mr. Vishal’s supporters demanded immediate police action, one of the members of Pandavar Ani, Paneer Pushpangal Suresh, was seen requesting them to not make an issue out of this scuffle and let elections take place without any further incident.
Reacting to the allegations, actor Mr. Sarath Kumar said he only objected to canvassing of votes by a member of Team Vishal inside the polling booth.
“That person was clearly flouting election rules and I questioned it. Otherwise, I did not and I have no intentions of attacking anyone,” said actor Mr. Sarath Kumar.
Actor Sachu, who has been in the industry for several decades, hinted that there had been a conspiracy to deny her a vote even though she was a member for a long time.
“When they want to collect funds for Nadigar Sangam or invite actors for star nights, they don’t ask for membership. But why nitpick during elections,” the distraught actor asked.
Veteran actor Lakshmi, who had arrived at the polling booth without her card, was allowed by Justice E. Padmanabhan to vote.
“She was allowed to vote by the Justice by making use of his discretionary powers. We didn’t object,” said Mr. Sarath Kumar.
The 80s superstars, Ambika and Radha, said many artistes, who don’t live in Tamil Nadu but are nevertheless part of the film industry, do not have a vote. “This must be rectified before the next elections,” said Ms. Ambika.
Earlier in the day, actor Rajinikanth lit a fuse to the vexed issue of what the South Indian Film Artistes’ Association must be called in future.
“Once the elections are over, the office-bearers must think about renaming the South Indian Artistes’ Association as the Tamil Nadu artistes’ association. I support it,” the actor said.
Reacting to actor Mr. Rajinikanth’s statement, actor Kamal Haasan said that Nadigar Sangam must represent actors of all States.
“We should call it the Indian Artistes’ Association,” he said. When actor and comedian Goundmani was asked to comment on the issue, he replied, “Just call it the Nadigar Sangam.”
The polling ended around 5 p.m.
