Feature
BJP set to retain power with clean sweep in Lok Sabha election results
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday appeared set to retain power as its candidates led in 229 of the 405 Lok Sabha seats from where counting trends were available, leaving the Congress far behind.
Good news for the BJP poured in from almost all parts of the Hindi heartland including Uttar Pradesh, where the SP-BSP alliance was expected to trip its path to victory, and neighbouring Bihar where it is allied with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and others.
BJP’s Smriti Irani was leading over Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi although the latter was far ahead of his Left rival in Wayanad in Kerala.
Despite losing power last year to the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the BJP was on the victory path in most Lok Sabha seats in the three states.
The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena were leading 16 seats in Maharashtra while the BJP and its allies had forged ahead in 13 constituencies in Bihar.
Among the BJP leaders who were on the victory lap included Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Maneka Gandhi (Sultanpur) and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur (Bhopal).
UPA Chairperson and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi led in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party was ahead of others on 3 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 9.
The TRS was leading in 11 seats in Telangana and the YSR Congress Party in 11 in Andhra Pradesh. The TDP was ahead of others in 5 seats in Andhra Pradesh. The DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu was leading in 14 seats.
BJP appears to retain power as its candidates led on 229 of 405 in LS results:
Indeed, the best news for the Congress came from Kerala where its candidates were leading in all 20 Lok Sabha seats. The Left, after initially leading in seven places, slipper to the second spot.
In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress led in 6 seats. Officials on Thursday morning began counting the millions of votes cast in the Lok Sabha elections across the country whose verdict will determine who gets to rule India for the next five years.
Thousands of Election Commission officials began the mammoth exercise in thousands of centres in states and Union Territories amid tight security. Around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million voters exercised their franchise in the seven-phase elections that began on April 11 and ended on May 19.
Exit polls have predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP is most likely to return to power. Election in Vellore in Tamil Nadu was countermanded by the Election Commission.
Officials on Thursday morning began counting the millions of votes cast in the Lok Sabha elections across the country whose verdict will determine who gets to rule India for the next five years.
Thousands of Election Commission officials began the mammoth exercise in thousands of centres in states and Union Territories amid tight security. Around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million voters exercised their franchise in the seven-phase elections that began on April 11 and ended on May 19.
Exit polls have predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is most likely to return to power. The counting began at 8 a.m. as scheduled, with officials first taking up the postal ballots.
A total number of 8,049 candidates were in the race for 542 Lok Sabha seats. Election in Vellore in Tamil Nadu was countermanded by the Election Commission.
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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