Popular filmmaker Ameer was on Tuesday elected as the president of Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), one of the influential bodies of Tamil cinema.
He defeated veteran director Visu by nine votes.

Out of the 65 votes polled (22 associations are affiliated to FEFSI and each of them has 3 votes. Bharathiraja, the president of directors' assocation, did not cast his vote), Ameer secured 37 votes and emerged triumphant.

Speaking to reporters, Ameer said he would fight for the rights and livelihood of workers. "We are planning to launch many initiatives which are aimed at uplifting the lives of film workers," he said.

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Amidst much protests and charges, director Ameer won the election in the FEFSI elections. The organization is an apex body for more than 23 unions of the film industry in the South. The unions have nearly 25 thousand employees as members and they have exercised their franchise in the elections.

As per the regulation of the FEFSI, the election will be conducted once in two years. Hence for the ensuing 2012 -14, the election was announced and Ameer was pitted against ace director Visu. The election went off peacefully at the FEFSI premises in Vadapalani. Both Ameer and Visu contested for the President post and the polling was conducted between 9 am to evening 5. Out of 65 votes polled for the post, Ameer secured 37 votes while Visu got 28 votes. For the post of secretary, Siva and Umashankar Babu fought each other in which Siva won the elections. Ameer won this election for his unstinted contribution in the recent strike by FEFSI members.

They have been demanding higher wage increase against the producers. Ameer took keen interest on securing the demand fulfilled from the producers. But the section of producers are dead against Ameer rising to the elevated level in FEFSI. The results have made the FEFSI members cheerful while the producers are not in a position to digest Ameer’s win.