Hyderabad: Manchu Vishnu elected as the president of Movie Artists Association on Sunday with a margin of 107 votes against his Rival candidate Prakash Raj. MAA election officer Krishna Mohan announced the poll results on Sunday night. Vishnu polled 381 votes while Prakash Raj, who was branded as non-local by some supporters of rival panel, could secure 274 votes.

According to election officer, 68 per cent polling was recorded which was highest in the history of the MAA. Out of 925 members of the MAA, 883 were eligible to cast their votes and of them, 605 did do to elect 26-member body comprising the President, two Vice Presidents, Executive Vice President, General Secretary, two Joint Secretaries, Treasurer and 18 Executive Committee members.

The Vishnu panel also bagged the key posts of Vice President, General Secretary, and Treasurer. Madala Ravi was elected Vice President beating Benerjee of the Prakash Raj panel. Raghu Babu trounced Jeevitha Rajasekhar for the post of General Secretary by 7 votes. Siva Balaji was elected treasurer, defeating Nagineedu by 32 votes. Balaji polled 316 votes while Nagineedu secured 284 votes.

Actor Srikanth from Prakash Raj panel was elected Executive Vice President. He defeated Babu Mohan of the Vishnu panel. The acrimonious election was seen as a tussle between families of megastar Chiranjeevi and veteran actor Mohan Babu. Chiranjeevi’s family backed Prakash Raj while Mohan Babu actively campaigned for his son Manchu Vishnu.

Soon after the results were declared, Chiranjeevi congratulated Vishnu in twitter message to and other members of the new body. He hoped that the new body will work for the welfare of all artists. “MAA has always been one family. No matter who wins, it’s the victory of our family,” he wrote.

Earlier speaking at a film event Chiranjeevi expressed his displeasure over the acrimony created during the MAA elections. He remarked that positions are temporary. The polling which began at 8 am at Jubilee Hills Public School was peaceful barring minor clashes between the two rival groups.

From the Vishnu panel, Poojitha, Shashank, Jayavani, U.P. Srinivasulu, Srilakshmi, Manik, Harinath Babu, and Vishnu Boppana were elected as executive members. Chiranjeevi, leading actors Pawan Kalyan, Balakrishna and Nagarjuna were among leading personalities of Tollywood who cast their votes. Murali Mohan, Mohan Babu, Jaya Prada, Rajendra Prasad, Roja, Babu Mohan, Naga Babu and other prominent faces also came to vote.