Director's Association election postponed

Elections to the Tamil Film Directors' Association were postponed for an indefinite period after threats of violence from non-members, Industry sources reveal. Now negotiation are going on to elect the new body to the association with all the groups involved in the disputes.

Earlier election returning officer A Mohan announced the postponement after V Shekhar, a contestant for the treasurer's post, filed a police complaint alleging threats of violence from a group of non-members. However No arrests were made so far.

The polls may take place only after the Association's extraordinary general body meeting dates of which will be announced later, said an association press release. Trouble arose on Saturday night when a group of non-member assistant directors, led by N Radhakrishnan and Bava, threatened supporters of outgoing president SA Chandrasekhar as well as contestants like RC Shakti, Ameer Jan, RK Selvamani and K Bhagyaraj with dire consequences.

The group, which allegedly has the backing of actor JK Ritheesh, grandson of a local minister, says that despite being part of the Association for years, their grievances have never been addressed and that is why they want to contest the election.

On Monday, all the factions met the Chief Minister seeking his help to conduct the elections peacefully. After the Chief Minister's advise, the representatives of all the groups jointly discussed yesterday upto the late night and finally decided to elect the office bearers with unanimous support of the members. According to the new decision, all the factions should be given proper representation in the forthcoming body.

Ace director Bharati Raja, one of the contestants in Sunday's postponed polls, also attended the compromise meet along with the protesters.