Feature
Over 64% voting recorded in final phase of Lok Sabha elections
New Delhi: Over 64 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Sunday in polling for 59 seats in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections, with Madhya Pradesh recording the highest turnout of 75.53 per cent.
There were reports of people ransacking a polling booth and holding an official hostage in Bihar, as well as sporadic violence in West Bengal.
Polling was conducted in remaining eight constituencies in Bihar, three constituencies in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal and all the four constituencies in Himachal Pradesh, 13 in Punjab and the lone seat of Union Territory Chandigarh.
According to the Election Commission (EC) data, West Bengal registered 73.57 per cent voting, followed by Himachal Pradesh 71.39 per cent, Jharkhand 71.16 per cent, Punjab 65.77 per cent, Chandigarh 63.57 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 58.01 per cent and Bihar 53.36 per cent.
Over 10.1 crore voters decided the fate of 918 candidates, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last phase of polling on Sunday.
As per the Election Commission, the voter turnout was 69.61 per cent in the first phase, 69.44 per cent in second phase, 68.4 per cent in third phase, 65.5 per cent in fourth phase, 64.16 per cent in fifth phase and 64.4 per cent in sixth phase.
The Commission said a total of 67.34 per cent voter turnout was recorded uptill sixth phase which was 1.21 per cent more than 2014 for the corresponding parliamentary constituencies uptill the six phase.
Voting began at over 1.12 lakh polling stations across the seven states and a Union Territory at 7 a.m.
According to election officials, angry voters ransacked the polling booth in Nalanda in Bihar and held the Block Development Officer hostage. The officer was freed after police intervention. No voting took place at the booth.
Glitches in Electronic Voting Machines were also reported from the eight constituencies, leading to delay in the poll process in a few booths.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and former Chief Ministers Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rabri Devi voted in Patna.
Other prominent faces who voted in the state capital, include Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Congress candidate from Patna Sahib Shatrughan Sinha and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti.
Total 64 percent voting recorded in final phase of the Lok Sabha elections:
Sinha was accompanied by his wife Poonam and his two sons, Luv and Kush.
West Bengal reported a few incidents of sporadic violence and reports of EVM failures in several booths leading to either delay or stalling of the poll process.
Long queues of voters were seen outside polling booths in Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata South and Kolkata North constituencies.
“EVM failure has been reported from across constituencies and requisite actions are being taken,” said the Election Commission official.
Anupam Hazra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from West Bengal’s Jadavpur seat, and a party leader accompanying him were attacked and the latter’s car damaged after the two visited a booth on receiving reports of rigging.
Hazra alleged that he was pushed and shoved and accused the TMC of rigging all 52 polling booths under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ward number 109 in Jadavpur.
“The BJP Mandal President was hit and one of his tooth was broken. A CISF officer posted at the booth was also injured in the attack by the Trinamool,” Hazra told the media.
The Trinamool, however, denied the allegations.
Modi is re-contesting from Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh. Besides Modi, 25 other candidates are in fray from Varanasi. Modi’s main challengers are Congress’ Ajay Rai and SP-BSP’s joint candidate Shalini Yadav.
In Himachal Pradesh, women turned out in large numbers in the rural areas of the Hamirpur and Kangra parliamentary constituencies.
There were minor hiccups as electronic voting machines developed snags at some places.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, two-time former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and former Union Minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma were among the early voters in the state.
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
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.