Feature
Spotlight on personalities in UP’s fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections
Lucknow: During the fourth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh will focus more on political personalities than on parties in the 13 Lok Sabha seats where polling will be held on April 29.
The 13 seats are Kannauj, Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Unnao, Farukkhabad, Etawah, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Hamirpur.
Among these Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Etawah and Jalaun are reserved seats. For the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the five reserved seats provide a major challenge since the BSP has been losing on reserved seats over the years.
In 2014, the BJP had won all seats, barring Kannauj, where Dimple Yadav had won on a Samajwadi ticket, albeit with a slender margin.
Dimple Yadav now faces the challenge of retaining her seat in face of the tough challenge posed to her by BJP candidate Subrat Pathak. If Dimple Yadav manages to retain the seat for her party for the eight consecutive times, she will have a lot to thank the BSP for her win.
In Farukkhabad, it is former union Minister Salman Khurshid who is battling to make a comeback into centre stage politics. After his defeat in 2014, Khurshid has been keeping a low profile and his supporters want to see him back in action.
After denying Murli Manohar Joshi the ticket, the BJP is facing a tough challenge in Kanpur. Uttar Pradesh Minister Satyadev Pachauri, contesting the seat, is facing resistance from party cadres, making the electoral battle easier for Congress candidate and former union Minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal.
During 4th phase of LS elections in UP focus more on political personalities:
In Etawah, the BJP has fielded its MP from Agra, Ram Shankar Katehria. This has again left the cadres upset. The denial of ticket to sitting MP Ashok Dohre, who is now the Congress candidate on the same seat, is another factor that is troubling the BJP.
Ashok Dohre says: “I am thankful to the Congress and the results will prove that the scales have tilted in my favour.”
In Unnao, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj, known for his controversial remarks, is seeking re-election but Annu Tandon of Congress is giving him a run for his votes.
Sakshi Maharaj, however, is boisterously over-confident and says, “Every person with a conscience and a golden heart will vote for me. I am going to get elected with a record margin this time.”
In Shahjahanpur, the BJP has denied ticket to its union minister Krishna Raj and replaced her with Arun Sagar that has made party workers recede into their homes.
This phase, in fact, is rather troublesome for the BJP since it has changed six of the 12 candidates, causing ripples of discontent among its cadres.
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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