Feature
JD-U, RJD in shock after NDA win in Bihar
Patna: Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Lalu Prasad’s RJD are licking their wounds after being worsted by the BJP-led NDA in legislative council polls.
Contrary to the ruling coalition’s expectations, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got a morale booster ahead of assembly elections by winning 12 of the 24 seats.
And with an independent backed by the BJP winning yet another seat, BJP leaders are confident that they would repeat the performance in the coming assembly polls too.
Political analysts here admit that the results have given the BJP and its allies a definite psychological advantage.
“The results reflect the general mood in the state,” senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi gloated.
At the same time, the results have shaken up Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD-U and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad as well as the Congress.
The grand alliance of the JD-U, the RJD, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party won 10 seats. Another seat was bagged by an independent close to the RJD.
JD-U and RJD insiders admit that the results have shocked both their party leaders and workers who were confident of crushing the BJP.
They now complain that BJP president Amit Shah openly played the caste card to swing votes. He claimed that it was the BJP that gave the maximum number of OBC chief ministers and the first OBC prime minister – Narendra Modi.
Although the difference between the two sides is only two seats, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh admitted that the result was “a red signal for us”.
However, JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar downplayed the outcome, repeating the chief minister’s words that this was not an election where the common people voted.
Both the BJP and grand alliance leaders accused one another of using money and muscle power to influence the voters, mostly elected representatives of local village bodies and urban bodies.
Some JD-U leaders say that RJD voters failed to transfer their votes to their party and voted on caste lines.
The victory of an independent, Ritlal Yadav, from Patna, who was till recently with the RJD, came as a big surprise as he not only defeated the JD-U’s official candidate – who had the support of RJD – but also of the BJP.
Similarly, the defeat of the vice chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, Salim Parwez of the JD-U, from Chapra, considered a stronghold of Lalu Prasad, has raised eyebrows.
Political activist Satya Narain Madan said the council results would favour BJP-led NDA in the upcoming polls.
“It has a clear-cut advantage over the grand alliance,” he 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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