BCCI refuses to play political adverts during IPL 2019 matches

The new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is due to kick off on March 23. Also, this is the season of the general elections in India and chances of cricket and politics blending together are high. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has put its foot down on the issue of playing political advertisements during the broadcast of the IPL games. It has informed the broadcaster Star Sports about the same.

The Lok Sabha election will take place in seven phases starting April 11 and the results will be declared on May 23. The IPL, on the other hand, will also take place for nearly two months and that makes it a popular platform for the political ad-seekers to connect with people.

Star India requested permission but BCCI didn’t entertain

Star India had requested the BCCI to waive off Clause 8.6 (B) in the Media Rights Agreement to allow playing of political and religious advertisements during live and recorded IPL matches. The issue came up for discussion on Monday but the board refused to change its policy of disallowing playing politico-religious advertisement during bilateral, international or domestic competitions held under its banner, daily Indian Express reported.

The BCCI updated the partially announced schedule of the IPL because of the general elections and now, the fixture till May 5 has been unveiled. Earlier, the fixture from March 23 to April 5 was published keeping in mind the general polls.

Instances of display of political hoardings during cricket matches were witnessed earlier but the BCCI now stays away from such practices.

The first match of IPL 2019 will see defending champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Led by two big stars of current times – MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, respectively – the two sides will look to have the best of the start in the tournament although statistics show that the RCB haven’t won a game against CSK for some time now.

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