CHENNAI: A resident of Triplicane assembly constituency has approached the Madras high court seeking to postpone the IPL matches in MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, till the April 23 Tamil Nadu assembly election is over.If the matches can’t be postponed, the petitioner wanted the court to direct the authorities to strictly enforce the model code of conduct to ensure that there is no public display of any political party’s symbol, logo, flag, posters or any other material during the match.The public interest litigation was moved by T Prabhakaran. As per the fixtures released by the organisers of IPL, two matches are scheduled in MA Chidambaram Stadium on April 3 and April 11, between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings, and CSK and Delhi Capitals.According to the petitioner, since the election process to the Tamil Nadu state Assembly has commenced, the entire state machinery is under the control of the Election Commission of India (ECI), and the entire bureaucratic machinery is geared up to conduct the election and ensure that a free and fair election is conducted.Particularly, the police department, which is tasked with the duty of regular law and order in addition to other work pertaining to the prevention of crimes, will be tasked with election-related work. While so, permitting IPL matches in Chepauk stadium will burden the Chennai police with providing security to the matches and players and maintaining law and order in and around the stadium, he said.“It is also pertinent to note that considering the fact that the matches are viewed worldwide, there is also a viable possibility that the political parties contesting the election may see to it that their supporters gather inside and outside the stadium in order to ensure propaganda for their respective parties and, in such circumstances, the same may result in clashes inside the stadium,” he said.The PIL is likely to be taken up for hearing by the first bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari, on Thursday.
