Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Friday strongly denied allegations that demands for complimentary IPL tickets by the Karnataka government led to the shifting of the IPL 2026 final from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad.



Responding to claims made by Devajit Saikia, the Karnataka Home Minister questioned whether a marquee cricket match could realistically be relocated over a few hundred seats.



“Would an IPL final really be shifted just to provide 600 seats to legislators? If that is the reason, then let them publicly disclose who received how many tickets,” Parameshwara said.



The minister insisted that the Karnataka government had no involvement in the BCCI’s venue decision and described the matter as purely administrative and commercial.



“We are not aware of the agreements between RCB and the BCCI. The decision appears to have been taken keeping commercial considerations in mind, such as crowd management and stadium capacity,” he said.



Parameshwara also dismissed speculation that security concerns in Bengaluru played a role in the relocation of the final.



“There is absolutely no shortage of security arrangements in Bengaluru. Based on recommendations from the Kunha report and lessons from previous incidents, several improvements have been implemented and high-level security measures are already in place,” he added.



Earlier in Guwahati, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia stated that defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru were initially scheduled to host both the IPL final and one playoff game at home as per league protocol.



“Under normal IPL policy, the defending champions are entitled to host the final and one playoff fixture at their home ground. Since RCB won last season, Bengaluru was the original venue,” Saikia said.



However, Saikia alleged that the BCCI reconsidered the plan after learning that the Karnataka State Cricket Association had requested complimentary tickets far beyond the permitted limit.



“As per IPL regulations, only 15 per cent of the total seating capacity can be distributed as complimentary tickets by the host association. But we received information that KSCA was seeking allocations far beyond the allowed quota,” he claimed.



According to Saikia, the KSCA allegedly sought nearly 10,000 additional tickets apart from the mandatory allocation meant for members, affiliated clubs, MLAs, MLCs and other dignitaries, including around 700 passes for the Karnataka government.



“We were surprised by the scale of the demand. In addition to the standard quota, they requested a substantial number of extra tickets for elected representatives and government officials,” he said.



Calling the move a clear violation of IPL rules, Saikia said the BCCI ultimately decided to shift the final to Narendra Modi Stadium.



Under the revised IPL 2026 playoff schedule, Dharamsala will host Qualifier 1, while New Chandigarh will stage the Eliminator and Qualifier 2. Ahmedabad will host the IPL final on May 31.