By Nitin n Sethi, Bollywood Trade News Network

Bollywood's biggest Election began with a bang! Arshad Warsi, Maria Goretti and Ayesha Takia flagged off the Sabsey Favourite Kaun Election Express at Filmistan Studios, Mumbai, marking the beginning of Schwarzkopf Palette Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2006. The Election Express is all set to cover 17,000 km over the length and breadth of India, traveling to approximately 50 towns over 14 states, collecting votes from fans from all over. All in a bid to choose the final nominees who all of India will vote for!

The scale of the exercise is unprecedented. And why not? Schwarzkopf Palette Sabsey Favourite Kaun 2006 from Star Gold is completely different from other Bollywood award shows. Here the winners are decided completely by the fans who not only vote for the winners of every single category but they also vote to shortlist the stars as nominees! And the vote is for popularity, not performance - winners can win even if they have not had a single release in the last year, but are popular with the masses.

Arshad and Maria who will be co-hosting the property on Star Gold, flagged off the event along with Ayesha Takia who won Sabsey Favourite Naya Heroine award last year. The ceremony began with a priest solemnizing the event by performing a puja and Arshad and Ayesha carried out the traditional coconut breaking. The three "Election Officers" who will supervise the election series aboard the Election Express all across the country were also present at the event.

The Election Express vans were equally exciting and Arshad went through the goodies in store for the voters - merchandise and gifts and even an Audio-Visual projection unit, which will feature songs and other entertaining scenes from Sabsey Favourite Kaun of the last two years. Arshad examined the ballot boxes as well as the nomination forms, which will decide the fate of the stars!

In his inimitable style, Arshad commented, "I hosted Sabsey Favourite Kaun when it was new and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to host it again in its second year. This year in its third year, I have specifically found time to host it once more. I feel that as an award Schwarzkopf Palette Sabsey Favourite Kaun is really authentic and the people I work with on it are so much fun I do it year after year. This year for example, I will come back from Bangkok just to shoot for Schwarzkopf Palette Sabsey Favourite Kaun and fly out again"

Ayesha Takia, just as enthused about the event, said, "I speak as a winner of Star Gold's Sabsey Favourite Naya Heroine 2005… I was elated to know that those who are the most important to me - my fans, chose me from so many other newcomers, and to know that all of India voted for me, based on my popularity alone, is so encouraging. This is one award I will always cherish - an award from the fans. I look forward to Schwarzkopf Palette Sabsey Favourite Kaun this year, as it gets even bigger and better."