Advocate Petitions Siddaramaiah Against IPL Matches In Chinnaswamy Stadium
He wanted the Chief Minister to consider relocating all commercial cricket matches including IPL-2026 home matches of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to alternate venues like Mysuru, Dharwad, Belagavi, Mangaluru among others
BENGALURU: A Bengaluru senior advocate Amruthesh N.P. on Sunday petitioned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah against grant of permission for conducting any commercial cricket matches including the ensuing Indian Premier League (IPL) fixtures at M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru city particularly over the stampede in and around the stadium in June this year which left 11 persons dead and as many as 70 injured.
It may be recalled that a stampede occurred during the victory celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru on winning IPL-2025 after a huge crowd gathering around the Chinnaswamy stadium tried to make it into the stadium to witness the celebrations.
The petition from the advocate came after a statement by Bengaluru incharge and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar earlier in the day wherein he told reporters “I won’t allow IPL matches to be shifted out of Chinnaswamy stadium” and termed “IPL matches at Chinnaswamy stadium as Karnataka’s pride.”
However, "Human life cannot placed secondary to commercial interests," the advocate said while drawing the attention of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to pending suo moto proceedings before the High Court of Karnataka over stampede at the Chinnaswamy stadium, experts findings declared the stadium unsafe for large public gatherings, lack of statutory safety clearances and recurring history of fatal stampedes across the country pointing to stampede at Karur in Tamil Nadu, stampede in Andhra Pradesh.
Pointing at the location of Chinnaswamy stadium, Amruthesh said Chinnaswamy stadium is located in Bengaluru’s central business district poses a serious risk of crowd mismanagement, traffic paralysis and public safety hazards during high-attendance events.
The advocate suggested to the Chief Minister safer alternate stadiums readily available on the outskirts of Bengaluru such as a stadium of Karnataka State Cricket Association at Alur, another stadium Just Cricket Academy and Ground and Rahul Dravid Cricket Arena, offers a more viable alternative for hosting high attendance matches.
He wanted the Chief Minister to consider relocating all commercial cricket matches including IPL-2026 home matches of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to alternate venues like Mysuru, Dharwad, Belagavi, Mangaluru among others.