Feature
Congress-NCP join hands to contest state assembly polls against BJP
Mumbai: In a major development, estranged allies the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra today decided to jointly contest the upcoming polls in a bid to defeat the BJP-led NDA government in the state.
The announcement was made after a joint meeting between Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan and his NCP counterpart Sunil Tatkare at the residence of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
“We have decided to come together for all the upcoming polls to defeat the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government. This was a primary discussion. We will meet once again to deliberate on the seat-sharing strategy,” Chavan told reporters.
Stopping short of announcing a formal alliance, Tatkare said, “Both parties have created an atmosphere that is conducive for an alliance. Our first focus is the bypolls to be held for the Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar seats.”
The bypoll to the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seat in east Maharashtra was necessitated following the resignation of its BJP MP Nana Patole, who returned to the Congress.
The Palghar Lok Sabha seat, neighbouring Mumbai, fell vacant after the death of its BJP MP, Chintaman Wanaga, last month.
The schedule for the bypolls is yet to be announced by the Election Commission.
The Congress and the NCP are, however, yet to arrive at a consensus on the contestants for both the seats.
Bhandra-Gondia is the pocket-borough of NCP stalwart and former Union minister Praful Patel, who had lost to Patole in the 2014 general election.
Congress becomes friend of NCP to contest next polls together against BJP:
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had yesterday said that though weakened, the Congress was the only alternative to the BJP.
“Even though the Congress is considerably weakened over the years, Rahul Gandhi has shown willingness to learn and engage with the people. If the people support him, the Congress can be revived and the fact is that a strong opposition is required to strengthen democracy,” he had said.
The NCP was part of the Congress-led UPA governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra earlier.
The Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra, of which the NCP was a crucial component, had won three successive terms before it was dislodged by the BJP in the 2014 state Assembly polls.
Both the parties had contested the 2014 Assembly polls separately.
Interestingly, the Congress recently expressed “practical difficulties” in renewing its alliance with the NCP for the 2019 Lok Sabha election and Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
In the saffron camp, the Sena and the BJP do not see eye to eye with each other.
The Sena has been sulking ever since it was made to play the second fiddle to the BJP, which had won more seats than the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in the 2014 polls.
Following severe strains in ties with the BJP, the Sena had last month announced to contest the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections on its own.
Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had held a closed-door meeting with Thackeray, triggering a speculation that the Sena was still keeping its alliance options open.
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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