The Government has reiterated that it will not be able to provide security to this year's Indian Premier League as its dates clash with the general elections.

"We have conveyed to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) that we will not be able to provide security to IPL matches.

“Our forces will be deployed for security of Lok Sabha elections, so how we can give them forces," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sources said the Home Ministry has conveyed to the BCCI that it would be able to provide security to the T20

tournament only after the general elections, which are likely to begin early April and end by mid-May.

The seventh edition of the IPL will be played in the April 9-June 3 window.

The BCCI, at its Working Committee meeting on February 28 in Bhubaneswar, had devised a strategy by which a substantial part of the cash-rich tournament could be held in the country, as per the wishes of the franchises, if the counting of votes in the general elections ends by May 15.

The BCCI is looking at holding some matches either in South Africa, Bangladesh or the United Arab Emirates. A final decision on the issue is likely to be taken on Wednesday.

Nearly 200,000 central paramilitary force personnel, in addition to state police forces, are expected to be deployed for the multi-phased Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said the Home Ministry has started preparing for the massive exercise of mobilising security personnel from different paramilitary forces for poll duties.

Image: Police personnel on duty at an IPL match

Photograph: Chirag Wakaskar-IPL 2010/IPL via Getty Images