The Hindu : Politicians fear cricket threat to poll turnover

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Politicians fear cricket threat to poll turnover

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 14. Unprecedented levels of public interest in the India-Pakistan cricket series are a source of worry for political leaders over the turnout during the election campaign. But, leaders are hopeful that it will not affect the voter turnout.

During the first one-dayer at Karachi on Saturday, which saw a nail-biting finish, the roads were empty as all cricket-lovers were glued to their television sets ignoring elections for a while.

Taking note of the huge popularity of the matches, Mr. Naidu said at a party meeting here today that he was happy that none of the five one-dayers nor the Test matches would clash with the dates of polling in Andhra Pradesh -- April 20 and 26.

This is quite understandable. During the Mayoral elections in Hyderabad two years ago when a crucial cricket match was being televised, the poor voter turnout nearly marred the prospects of the TDP candidate, T. Krishna Reddy. "No cricket match on polling day means there will be more voters," Mr. Naidu remarked.

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Andhra Pradesh