The league management has made it amply clear that it will not allow telecast of any political advertisements during the second edition of the mega cricket event.
Efforts of political parties to encash on the popularity of the IPL have suffered a setback with the league management making it amply clear that it will not allow telecast of any political advertisements during the second edition of the mega cricket event.
Chairman of BCCI's Finance Committee Rajeev Shukla said IPL Governing Council has decided to ban advertisements by political parties and there will not be any "rethinking" on the issue.
"The IPL Governing Council in its meeting in Goa decided not to entertain any political advertisements and we are not going to reconsider it," Shukla, also a member of the IPL Governing Council, said.
Shukla's comments came in response to reported efforts by major political parties to get the restrictions lifted on the telecast of political ads during the matches beginning April 18.
An official of the IPL broadcaster, Multi Screen Media, refused to comment on the development but admitted that it would definitely affect its revenue generation.
On whether a section of the Congress and BJP leaders had requested IPL to reconsider its decision, Shukla, also a Congress MP, said: "It was a unanimous decision and BJP's Arun Jaitley was also present in the governing body meeting."
Asked whether BJP was disappointed over IPL's decision not to allow political ads, BJP spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh said the party knew about the decision.
"We are aware of the IPL condition. It does not allow political advertisement," he said.
Apart from Shukla and Jaitley, the other members of the IPL governing council include Lalit Modi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Chirayu Ameen and IS Bindra.
Had IPL allowed the political ads, then it would have been extremely profitable for the broadcaster as they think the recession will affect their revenue generation in the first part of the IPL which begins on April 18 in South Africa.
Chairman in the Centre for Media Studies Bhaskar Rao said the IPL decision had dampened the enthusiasm of the political parties.
"It would have been a real opportunity for the political parties to connect with the young voters. I do not know why IPL decided not to allow political ads," said Rao.
According to estimates, a total of 100 million young voters will exercise their franchise in the elections.
As per the estimates of CMS, a total of about Rs 10,000 crore could be spent during the Lok Sabha elections, which includes about Rs 2,000 crore by the Election Commission and other government agencies and the remaining Rs 8,000 crore by the political parties and candidates for campaigning.
It is estimated that the total ad spend of the political parties will be around Rs 1,000 crore.
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