Bangladeshi actress Poli has lost the election for international affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Film Artists’ Association and accused the winners of spending large amounts of money to influence the results.
Poli contested the position on the Shiba Shanu-Joy Chowdhury panel in Friday’s election. She received 144 votes against 272 for the winner, Parvez Chowdhury Abir.
At a press conference at her Gulshan residence after the results were announced, Poli said: “Lakhs of taka were spent to defeat me. I have said from the beginning that genuine artists never scatter money to win elections. This time, the genuine artists lost — Rozina, Nutun, Rina Khan, Mukti. I am among them.”
Raising allegations of financial irregularities, Poli called for administrative scrutiny. “Those who gave money and those who took it should be brought under the law. I am a voter of Dhaka-17 constituency. The people elected Prime Minister Tarique Rahman with their votes, and one of those votes was mine. I seek justice from the prime minister over this matter,” she said.
Poli said she had no original plan to contest the election but joined the Shiba Shanu-Joy Chowdhury panel at the request of candidate Soni Rahman. She said she initially contributed Tk 3 lakh toward election expenses and later spent an additional Tk 2 lakh on various support costs for artists, stressing that the money was not for buying votes. Actress Jolly also contributed funds, she said.
“In a country where a fair election has been held after 15 years, why can’t the film artists’ association have one? Those who scattered money and engaged in dirty tactics should be interrogated. If necessary, they should be remanded and investigated so the truth comes out,” Poli said.
She added that she no longer has any interest in the association’s chair and only wants the truth to be revealed, saying that without accountability, “genuine artists will remain hostage to fighters and dancers” and will lose interest in future association elections.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report