The elections of the Cine and Television Artistes Association (CINTAA) held by president Poonam Dhillon and senior vice president Padmini Kolhapure have been held to be null and void by the Bombay high court which has issued the Association a show cause notice over its decision to conduct elections and declare the results on October 20, 2026. The order was passed on October 22 after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) filed a contempt petition alleging wilful disobedience of the court’s earlier directions in its orders dated September 11 and October 19, 2026.
Justice Aarti Sathe observed that a prime facie case of wilful disobedience and breach of undertaking had been made out against CINTAA. The court has directed CINTAA to not act upon or give effect to the elections or its results. It issued a notice to CINTAA under Rule 9(1) of the Contempt of Courts (Bombay High Court Rules, 1994). This must be a first for any Association in the film industry.
Through the notice, CINTAA has been called upon to show cause why action should not be taken against it under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. The matter has been listed for hearing on November 18, 2026.
It may be mentioned here that more than 50% of the executive committee members of CINTAA had resigned in September to register their protest against the authoritative and dictatorial attitude of president Poonam Dhillon. Following this, the FWICE had ordered fresh elections for September 12. The CINTAA (which effectively meant Poonam and Padmini) had gone to court against the FWICE order as they said, FWICE did not have the locus standi to order CINTAA elections. However, the Dindoshi (Andheri) sessions court in Bombay did not stay the elections, holding that the FWICE was well within its rights to call for CINTAA elections as CINTAA was affiliated to the FWICE. The CINTAA (read Poonam and Padmini) appealed against the sessions court order before the Bombay high court and lost there too. At the elections held on September 12, not a single member of Poonam and Padmini’s group was declared elected. Rather, 14 of the 15 seats of the executive committee were bagged by the group which had resigned. As if that were not enough of a disgrace for Poonam Dhillon and Padmini Kolhapure, the two called for fresh CINTAA elections to be held on October 20. They conducted the elections and declared themselves the winners the same day. That’s when the FWICE went to the Bombay high court with a contempt petition.