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About 60 percent voting recorded in sixth phase of UP polls
Lucknow: Around 60 per cent turnout was reported in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections today as voting came to an end on 5 pm.
According to Election Commission official, the electorate in the phase, covering 49 constituencies in seven eastern districts of the state, comprised 1.72 crore people.
A poll panel official told media persons, people standing in the queues at 5 p.m. will be allowed to cast their votes.
According to officials, 58.67 per cent polling was logged in Kushinagar, 58 per cent in Azamgarh and Gorakhpur while in Ballia, 57.27 per cent voters exercised their franchise.
Earlier, Voting for the sixth phase of UP polls began at 7 am today morning for 49 seats with near about 11 percent polling was reported till 9 am.
Near about 1.72 crore voters will decide the fate of 635 candidates across seven districts in eastern UP, including 94.60 lakh men and 77.84 lakh women will cast their votes.
Some of the prominent candidates who were in fray include Bharatiya Janata Party’s Swami Prasad Maurya (Padrauna) and former state unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi (Pathardeva), and jailed don Mukhtar Ansari, contesting from Mau on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.
Total numbers of candidates are in Gorakhpur city where 127 candidates in fray for its nine seats, while the minimum number of candidates-seven-are in Mohammadabad Gohna seat in Mau.
Most of the polling stations, particularly those in the rural areas, wore a deserted look till 9 a.m, but some booths in Gorakhpur, Mau and Azamgarh saw long queues.
Gorakhpur, Ballia, Kushinagar and Maharajganj polled 11 per cent in two hours after voting began at 7 a.m., while Mau, Deoria and Azamgarh polled 10 per cent.
Mainly focus will be largely on the Azamgarh which is considered to be Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s strong hold.
Maurya is contesting from Padrauna, former state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Surya Pratap Shahi is fighting from Pathardeva, and Muktaar Ansari, the don turned politician who is contesting from behind the bars from Mau.
There are also 175 independent candidates in the fray in this phase.
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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