Feature
BSP not to be part of Grand Alliance, will contest Lok Sabha elections alone
Patna: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is likely to contest alone in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as party leaders hinted it will not be a part of the opposition’s Grand Alliance.
BSP’s Bihar in-charge Lalji Medhkar said the BSP would contest all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. “BSP chief Mayawati has instructed us to prepare to contest from all seats in Bihar,” he added.
He also said the party would not join hands with the Grand Alliance. “BSP will contest the polls on its own,” he said.
According to him, Mayawati has invited BSP leaders of Bihar to Delhi for a meeting ahead of the polls. She will finalise the party’s strategy with them and then announce its candidates.
The move is a political setback for the Grand Alliance in Bihar, which was waiting for the BSP to join, in hope of putting up an united opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav had even met Mayawati in Luckhnow in January, when it was being speculated that the BSP will be a part of the Grand Alliance.
The BSP has some strong pockets in Bihar, particularly in Gopalganj, Kaimur and Rohtas which are near the Uttar Pradesh border.
Ironically, however, Tejashwi Yadav planned to give the BSP just one or two seats.
BSP supremo Mayawati decided not to be part of Grand Alliance for Lok Sabha polls:
Medhkar said political scenarios are very different in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
An RJD leader admitted that the BSP’s social support base was well known with a particular Dalit caste. It also enjoys support in over half-a-dozen Lok Sabha seats.
The development comes amid reports of another Grand Alliance component, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president Jitan Ram Manjhi being unhappy over the seats offered to his party.
“My party should get respectable number of seats. We have a large vote bank,” Manjhi, another Dalit leader, has been repeatedly saying.
And after Manjhi’s seat-sharing talks with RJD chief Lalu Prasad in Ranchi failed, there are growing rumours that he may join the NDA as the BJP has offered him full respect and honour.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar comprises the Congress, the RJD, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) led by former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, the HAM led by Manjhi and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahni.
The Left parties, including CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML, too are likely to contest polls together as part of the Grand Alliance.
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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