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EC announces crucial municipal body poll dates for Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission today announced dates of crucial local municipal body polls that will take place in three phases and which will start from November 22nd.
Uttar Pradesh will have civic polls in three phases from November 22, making it the first electoral test for the ruling BJP which stormed to power in the Assembly elections with a massive mandate earlier this year.
“As per the schedule, 24 districts will go to polls on November 22, 25 districts on November 26, and 26 districts on November 29,” State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal told reporters here.
He said no central para-military force would be used for exercise, which will be conducted by the state police alone.
“Counting of votes polled for 16 nagar nigam, 118 nagar palika parishad and 438 nagar panchyat will be done December one,” he said.
Agarwal said 3.32 crore voters will be eligible to cast their ballots at 36,269 polling booths and 11,389 polling stations.
Giving phase-wise details, he said the first phase will cover 24 districts in which 230 local bodies, spread over 4,095 wards, will got to polls.
For this phase, there will be 3,731 polling centres and 11,683 polling booths with total over 1.09 crore voters.
Uttar Pradesh to witness civic polls from November 22nd in three phases:
The second phase will cover 25 districts having 189 local bodies covering 3,601 wards.
The polls will be held at 13,776 polling booths to be set up for 1.29 crore voters, he said.
In the third and last phases, 26 districts will go to polls in which there are 233 local bodies spread over 4,299 wards.
For this phase, there will be 10,810 polling booths for over 94 lakh voters.
These polls will mark the first test for the Yogi Adityanath government which came to power in March, with the BJP getting a landslide victory.
The polls would be held in three phases on November 22, November 26 and November 29, State Election Commissioner S.K. Agarwal told the media.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in the polls, he added.
Agarwal said the model code of conduct would be in place between November 22 and December 1.
In the first phase, polling would be held in 24 districts. In the second phase, polling would be conducted in 25 districts and in the remaining 26 districts in the third phase.
The votes would be counted on December 1st.
The stakes are high for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in these polls as it is in power in most municipal corporations, including in the state capital Lucknow.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting the polls for the first time.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress which had fought the state assembly polls in an alliance earlier this year have parted ways for these polls and are contesting separately.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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