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Congress MP Ashok Chavan unlikely to contest Lok Sabha polls
Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister and sitting Congress MP Ashok Chavan is not likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Nanded constituency, his home turf, party sources said Wednesday.
Chavan is the Maharashtra unit chief of the Congress and sitting MP from Nanded Lok Sabha constituency.
He was one of the only two Congress party members who had won the 2014 general elections from Maharashtra, the other being Rajiv Satav, who had won from Hingoli.
Satav is currently the Gujarat Congress in-charge.
Chavan’s wife Ameeta, who is the MLA from Bhokar constituency in Nanded, is likely to contest the upcoming LS polls, sources in the party said.
Party workers from Nanded had earlier urged Ashok Chavan to contest the Assembly elections scheduled later this year, instead of the Lok Sabha polls. However, he had told them that a decision regarding contesting elections will be taken by the party’s central leadership.
Former Maha CM Ashok Chauhan not to contest Lok Sabha elections:
The State Election Committee of the Congress, which met Tuesday, discussed the names of the probable candidates for 26 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Party sources said in most of the constituencies, three names have been listed for each seat. While only one name has gone for Solapur (Sushilkumar Shinde), Ramtek (Mukul Wasnik), Yavatmal-Washim (Manikrao Thakre), Mumbai South (Milind Deora).
MLAs K C Padvi and Nirmala Gavit are in the race to get nomination from Nandurbar, while party office-bearer Raju Waghmare and Srirampur MLA Bhausaheb Kamble are the probable candidates for Shirdi seat.
From Wardha, Maharashtra women’s cell chief Charulata Tokas and social activist Shailesh Agrawal are in the list of probables. However, party sources said there is opposition to Tokas from the local party workers.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the NCP have reached a consensus on 44 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra. The seats, which both the parties are yet to decide on are Ahmednagar, Raver, Aurangabad and Nandurbar.
While the Congress is claiming Ahmednagar and Raver which is in NCP quota, the latter is demanding Aurangabad and Nandurbar seats.
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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