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Congress knocks out BJP in semi finals ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019

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Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Assembly election, Assembly polls, Lok Sabha elections, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana, National news, Politics news

New Delhi: In a severe jolt to the BJP in the Hindi heartland in the “semi finals” ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Tuesday knocked the saffron party out of power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and was slightly ahead in Madhya Pradesh where the two parties were engaged in a see-saw battle throughout the day.

However, in Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS)’s gamble of going for early elections paid off with the party scoring a landslide 4/5th win getting 87 seats out of 119 at stake, thrashing the Congress-led People’s Front. The Congress also lost its last bastion in the Northeast when it was defeated convincingly by the Mizo National Front (MNF) ending the Congress’ hold over power for the last 10 years.

Suffering his worst defeat since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted late in the night that he accepted the verdict with humility and would work with greater vigour for the people.

The highlight of the day was the ding-dong battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh where leads alternated between the two sides with Congress getting a slight edge by winning 63 seats and leading in 51 in the 230-member House. On its own, the Congress is ahead in 114 seats, including those won.

The Congress had won 58 seats in the last election. A nearly 3 per cent swing in votes against BJP hit the party hard in the elections where agrarian unrest, unemployment and the ill effects of demonetisation dominated the campaign.

The Congress, which may be falling short of the magic figure of 116, could look to get backing from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is leading in 2 seats, and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is ahead in one, besides Independents, most of whom are Congress rebels and leading in four seats. The SP said it will back the Congress.

 

Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Assembly election, Assembly polls, Lok Sabha elections, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana, National news, Politics news

 

Facing a stiff anti-incumbency, the BJP under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which had won 165 seats in 2013, was pushed down to 109 seats with 60 wins and leading in 49 seats. The party has been in power for the last 15 years in the state.

The Congress took a sweet revenge against the BJP halting its bid for a fourth consecutive term in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh by returning to power with a massive victory. In the election for the 90-member Assembly, the Congress won 33 seats and was leading in 35, while the BJP won only 6 seats and was ahead in 10 others. The alliance of former Ajit Jogi-led Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and Mayawati-led BSP fared poorly leading in all in only six seats together.

In the 2013 elections, the BJP had won 49 seats against the Congress’ 39. The saffron party saw a huge negative swing of 8 per cent from 41 per cent it had secured in the last elections, while Congress’ fortunes improved drastically when it got 3 per cent more votes at 42 per cent.

Rajasthan proved true to the 20-year old tradition of voting out the ruling party. The battle was won by the Congress which has bagged 95 seats and was ahead in 4 seats, while the ruling BJP won 73 seats. The Congress, which is just short of halfway mark of 101, saw its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal winning one seat. The BSP won six seats and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had won 2 seats.

The two parties had fought against both the Congress and the BJP.

 

Over confidence BJP tastes defeat in Assembly polls ahead of 2019 LS elections:

 

The Bharatiya Tribal Party won two seats and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party bagged 3 seats. Independents, comprisng mostly Congress and BJP rebels, had a field day when 12 of them won and another was leading.

The Congress, which had a disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok sabha elections and suffering successive defeats in various Assembly elections, smiled for the first time defeating the BJP in a direct contest in 3 crucial states in north India.

Party president Rahul Gandhi, who campaigned vigorously, said the Assembly election results were a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s non-performance on issues of unemployment, agrarian distress, corruption and negating the ill effects of demonetisation.

This was countered by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who said issues in state elections are entirely different. The BJP won Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2003 but lost the Lok sabha elections next year, he said.

The general elections in 2019 would be fought around the performance of Modi where people will vote for the tried and tested leadership against a non-ideological opposition coalition which is bound to collapse sooner than later, he added.

Riding a pro-incumbency wave, the TRS headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, scored a scintilating victory in Telangana making a mincemeat of the Congress-led “Praja Kutami” that included the TDP, CPI and the Telangana Jana Samithi. The inclusion of the TDP apparently backfired as the TRS made a bogey of the presence of “outsider” from Andhra Pradesh in Telangana politics.

 

Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Assembly election, Assembly polls, Lok Sabha elections, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana, National news, Politics news

 

In the 119-member Assembly, the TRS has won 86 seats and was leading in 2, while the COngress managed to win only 19 seats. TRS ally AIMIM led by Asaduddin Owaisi won 6 seats and was ahead in one. The TDP secured two seats, while the All India Forward Bloc bagged one. An Independent managed to win a seat, while TJS and CPI — part of the Congress alliance — drew a blank.

In the Northeast, the Congress lost its last state where the MNF decimated the ruling party winning 26 of the 40 seats at stake. The Congress won five, while Independents won in 8 seats. The BJP, which is in power in six of the northeastern states either directly or through allies, opened its account in the Christian-dominated state by winning a lone seat.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh resigned taking moral responsibility for the BJP’s stunning defeat in Assembly election, while his Rajasthan counterpart Vasundhara Raje conceded defeat.

Mizoram’s Congress Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla also resigned after the humiliating defeat.

TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao said he would play a crucial role in national politics.

 

Entertainment

Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

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PureWin Online Betting

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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