Feature
Mehbooba wins Anantnag, popularity test for PDP-BJP government
Anantnag: Making mincemeat of her electoral rivals, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday won the Anantnag assembly by-poll by a margin of over 12,000 votes — in what is seen as a first popularity test of the over year-old PDP-BJP government in the state.
Mehbooba Mufti polled 17,701 votes while her closest rival Hilal Ahmad Shah of the Congress managed just 5,616 of the over 28,500 polled on June 22, an official of the election commission told IANS here.
National Conference’s Iftikhar Hussain Misghar came a distant third with a little over 2,800 votes in the low turnout polling — 34 per cent — amid a boycott call by Kashmiri separatists and militants.
In Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Mehbooba Mufti on her electoral victory. Modi termed it a “phenomenal victory”.
The decisive victory margin for the fist woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir is seen as a public endorsement of her Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to continue its alliance with the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Her rivals in the National Conference and the Congress had made Mehbooba Mufti’s decision to continue the alliance with BJP a hallmark of their electoral campaign in Anantnag.
The by-election was necessitated because of the death of her father, then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The late Chief Minister represented the seat in the assembly that has an effective strength of 87.
Mehbooba Mufti’s victory margin is double that of her father. In 2014, Sayeed won the assembly seat defeating Congress’ Shah by a margin of 6,000 votes. But the voter turnout then was 40 per cent.
“She has won people’s endorsement for the vision of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed,” a senior PDP minister told IANS.
Opposition candidates alleged that the Chief Minister “engineered” her victory by using the government machinery in her favour.
The Congress’ Shah alleged discrepancies in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) as they were “not sealed properly” and that postal ballots were counted as “bogus votes”.
“They have changed the voting machines. This is a murder of democracy. The election observers acted as dead wood,” Shah told IANS.
Congress and National Conference supporters earlier created a ruckus inside the counting hall, Government Degree College, Anantnag, by shouting anti-government slogans that briefly disrupted the vote count.
As election officials refused to entertain the protests, the opposition supporters led by Shah walked out and refused to be part of the counting.
The PDP has termed the protest as a frustration over defeat. PDP legislator Abdul Raheem Rather told IANS that the Congress had lost from “places where they had a good support”.
“This is expected from them,” Rather said, refuting the allegations of bogus votes.
Eight candidates contested from the constituency that has over 84,000 eligible voters.
Sayeed passed away in New Delhi on January 7 after a brief illness. Mehbooba Mufti assumed power after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government on April 4.
It is mandatory for a Chief Minister or any other minister in the state to become a member of either house of the state’s bicameral legislature within six months of being sworn in. Mehbooba Mufti represents the south Kashmir Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in parliament. She will now give up the Lok Sabha seat with her election as legislator.
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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