Initially, all the aspirants outside the audition venue seemed excited over the prospect of meeting their musical idols in person.

However, desperation levels among the crowd started to shoot up when the number of candidates grew up to 5,000 and some started to claim that entry is being denied even after getting enrolled for the auditions resulting in the stampede.

Police posted outside the venue tried to control the crowd. Surprisingly there were no ambulances on standby in case things turned nasty.

Contestants taken for a ride by organizers?
According to sources, main reason behind the chaos breaking out at the auditions was that many aspirants were denied the chance to give their audition.

Candidates accused the organizers of the show for fooling and cheating them.

“They cheated me. I registered with them over telephone and despite having the (enrolment) code, they aren’t letting me in. I have made so many calls and each costs Rs 25 for two minutes,” said Suraj, an Indian Idol hopeful, who came from Ludhiana for the audition and stood in queue close to 10 hours for his turn like many others.

Another contestant Rohini told the somewhat similar story, “I have trained for years and I just wanted them (the selectors) to listen to me. I had all the documents required. They asked me to come back next week but the final auditions in Delhi will be held the day after tomorrow.”

Organizers clarification
Organizers did not offer any comment on claims made by candidates stating that they were not given chance to perform even after registering.

However, they blamed the contestants who were not called for audition that day for all the chaos and confusion.

After some consultation, organizers announced that the selected participants will be provided with a registration number and within a week will be informed about the date and venue for the next audition.