Feature
Over a million early voters cast ballot in Bihar polls
Patna: Tens of thousands of people, including many women, stood in serpentine queues at polling stations since early Wednesday to cast their ballot in the third phase of the staggered Bihar assembly elections.
Around 12 percent polling was recorded in the initial hours in the assembly elections being held at 50 constituencies.
No violence has so far been reported, officials said.
Voters turned up at many polling stations in Bihar hours before the start of ballotting.
“Initially queues were small. Now voters are standing in long queues outside polling booths,” said an official at the chief electoral office here.
Polling began at 7 a.m. in 50 of the 243 constituencies, including Maoist-affected areas, spread across six districts, officials said.
“Around 12 percent of 14.5 million voters eligible to cast their ballot had voted in the first two hour hours,” the official said.
“Polling will pick up like the first phase polls on last Monday.”
The six districts where polling is being held are Patna, Saran, Vaishali, Nalanda, Bhojpur and Buxar.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad along with his family including wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti and son Tej Pratap cast their votes in Patna on Wednesday.
Lalu was clad in his usual cotton kurta and payjama. He was accompanied with Rabri Devi, Misa and Tej Pratap who cast their vote at a polling booth in veterinary college under Digha assembly constituency in Patna.
“Modi is playing the communal card on reservation. People in the country never expected such words from the prime minister,” Lalu said after casting his ballot.
He was referring to Modi’s statement during his election rallies on Monday and Tuesday that it was not BJP-led NDA but Lalu-Nitish and Congress who are a threat to continuance of reservation in the future and they will provide reservation to a religious community.
“No one can change or snatch reservation of Dalits and OBCs in the country.”
He said Modi and BJP leaders have been nervous after reports of their defeat in the polls and added that the grand alliance of JD-U, RJD and Congress is sweeping the ongoing Bihar assembly polls and would form the next government.
Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has also cast his vote here.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will cast his vote at a polling booth in Bakhtiyarpur assembly constituency in Patna.
Bihar police chief P.K. Thakur told the media here that so far polling is peaceful with no report of violence, barring minor clashes between rivals.
At some places, the electronic voting machines malfunctioned. Apart from that, it was a smooth exercise in a state notorious for election violence.
Officials said that voters in over a dozen villages in Patna, Vaishali, Bhojpur, Saran and Nalanda boycotted polls and shouted slogans against the lack of development.
Two helicopters, drones and 667 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed for the polls, Additional Chief Electoral Officer R. Lakshmanan said.
The Election Commission has cut down polling hours in the sensitive areas till 4 p.m.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch, 215 candidates in the third round face serious criminal charges including those of murder.
The staggered elections to pick a 243-member Bihar assembly will end on November 5. The result will be revealed three days later.
In the first and second phases of the elections on October 12 and 16, polling was held in 49 and 32 constituencies. The fourth round will be held on November 1.
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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