Feature
Congress ready to go alone in Uttar Pradesh for Lok Sabha elections
Lucknow: The Congress is ready to go it alone in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, a senior state leader said on Friday as speculation about an SP-BSP seat sharing alliance spiraled with the two parties announcing a joint press conference of their chiefs.
The Congress already has 45 seats in the Lok Sabha, more than any other regional player, said the party’s media coordinator Rajiv Bakshi.
His comments came as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party announced that their leaders, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, would jointly address a press conference on Saturday, signalling a ‘gathbandhan’ excluding the Congress.
“We are a political party and are ready to fight the coming elections alone in Uttar Pradesh,” Bakshi told media persons.
“We alone have 45 seats in the Lok Sabha and it is any day many more than the regional players… a ‘mahagathbandhan’ in the Lok Sabha elections need to be built around the party having a national face,” Bakshi said.
“We are ready to take along like minded parties and they can come together with us,” he said.
Discussing the Congress’ poll preparedness, Bakshi said the party has an organisation and is getting ready for an election.
“Where there are glitches, we are revamping it. We will be all set for the polls soon,” he added.
Another senior leader added that talk on a ‘mahagathbandhan’ had been going on for a while but Congress members in the state were of the opinion that the party should it go alone as it has an independent identity among the people.
Congress ready to go alone in UP for polls if not be part for gathbandhan:
“A decision on who to join hands with always rests with the party high command, but we will apprise them that workers and supporters want the Congress to go alone in Uttar Pradesh where it still has its own identity which is different from these parties,” he said.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when, too, the situation seemed against the Congress, the party got 21 seats in the state, paving the way for the return of the UPA government at the Centre, he said.
Party leaders here said the Central leadership did not respond to the statements of Akhilesh Yadav or Mayawati during the recent Assembly elections in five states, making it clear that it might prefer to go it alone.
They also said party president Rahul Gandhi had made it clear that the Congress cannot be underestimated.
In an interview to Gulf News ahead of his visit to UAE on January 11, Gandhi said the Congress idea is very powerful in Uttar Pradesh. “So, we are very confident of our ability in Uttar Pradesh and we will surprise people,” he was quoted as saying.
Gandhi’s comments were the first indication of the party’s plan B after the regional players seemed to have deserted it.
Sources in the Congress said Gandhi will soon meet UPCC president Raj Babbar and AICC in-charge of party affairs in the state Ghulam Nabi Azad to deliberate on the matter.
“There are chances that Gandhi will set up a committee to finalise issues concerning elections,” a party leader said.
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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