Chennai, Oct. 19: The combatants were all actors. On one side was Kamal Haasan; the other had Rajinikanth.

But this was no box-office battle. The fight was for votes.

A team of actors backed by Kamal Haasan took control of actors' association Nadigar Sangam, defeating the one in control that was supported by Rajinikanth in what was perhaps the most bitterly fought election in the history of Tamil cinema.

Actors and scriptwriters-turned-politicians like MGR, M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have waged fierce battles in the state for political supremacy, but this was the first time that two groups of actors had clashed with such vehemence to take control of a film body.

The winning team, led by young hero Vishal, 38, outwitted actor-politicians Sarath Kumar and Radha Ravi to capture the key posts of president, secretary, treasurer and two vice-presidents.

The results of the elections, supervised by a retired high court judge, were announced close to midnight on Sunday.

While Kamal Haasan had openly proposed Nasser from Vishal's group for the president's post, Rajinikanth had kept his cards close to his chest before revealing on election day that his sympathies lay with the Sarath Kumar group.

He also suggested that the name of the association be changed to Tamil Nadu Actors Association from the South Indian Artistes Association, a throwback to the 1950s and 1960s. That was when all south Indian language films were produced in Chennai and actors originally from other states too were based here and became members of the association.

It was only in the 1970s that films in other languages began to be produced in their respective states. Actors from outside Tamil Nadu also started moving back to their states.

Rajinikanth's words were an indirect endorsement of director Bharatiraja's assertion that while actors from other states were welcome if they wanted to act in Tamil movies, only those from Tamil Nadu should hold elected posts in film bodies of the state.

Since Vishal, born Vishal Krishna Reddy, is originally from Andhra Pradesh, this condition was seen as an attempt to swing the election in favour of Sarath Kumar and his team.

Kamal Haasan countered this, suggesting that the body could instead be called the Indian Actors Association.

Rajinikanth's another demand was the new team of office bearers should resign if it failed to fulfil its promises. This too was viewed as an attack on the Vishal group, which had rolled out an elaborate manifesto promising many things, including reclaiming a one-acre plot of the association that had been leased out to a theatre owner for building a mall-cum-multiplex.

"Rajinikanth imposed no such condition when the Sarath Kumar group had been controlling the association for nearly a decade," a senior actor pointed out.

The younger brigade and female stars, who turned up in large numbers, however, voted for the group led by Vishal. As a source put it, the "mood was for a change".

Of the 3,139 association members, 2,607 voted, 934 by post.

After the results, victor and vanquished both declared they would bury their election-eve animosity and work together to better the lives of artistes, especially impoverished drama actors.