Feature
In 2nd phase of LS polls about Millions of people cast their votes for 95 seats in 12 states
New Delhi: Millions voted across 95 Lok Sabha seats in 12 states and Puducherry on Thursday in the second phase of the staggered battle for a new Parliament, marred by stray violence in West Bengal and muted polling in Srinagar.
CPI-M MP and candidate Mohd Salim was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress activists in Raiganj constituency where he is seeking re-election when he went to a polling booth to check reports of vote rigging, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also accused the Trinamool Congress of unleashing violence on its opponents, a charge denied by the ruling party in West Bengal.
A total of 15.7 crore electorate can pick 95 Lok Sabha members out of 1,606 contestants on Thursday.
Stone pelters targeted a polling station in Srinagar city, injuring a policeman. Most Srinagar polling booths reported sparse polling following a call from separatists to boycott the nationwide seven-phase polls that will end on May 19 and whose outcome will be known on May 23.
Polling in all other places was reportedly peaceful although complaints of glitches in electronic voting machines (EVMs) came from several states, briefly halting the electoral process.
Unfazed by the summer heat and dust, voters turned out in large numbers in Karnataka. There was nearly 40 per cent polling between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. spread across 14 parliamentary constituencies, the main fight between the ruling Congress-JD-S alliance and the BJP.
Polling was also brisk in Tamil Nadu where people will be electing 38 of 39 Lok Sabha members — voting in Vellore has been postponed — and 18 members to the state Assembly.
Tamil Nadu, where the main contest is between the coalitions led by the AIADMK and the DMK, too reported nearly 40 per cent voting till 1 p.m. Puducherry voted for its lone Lok Sabha seat.
Millions of voters cast votes across 95 Lok Sabha seats in 12 states during 2nd phase of polls:
After initial dull moments, the voting picked up dramatically in Odisha, which is electing five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly members.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) said it was confident of retaining power but the BJP said it was looking forward to a victory.
In Bihar, 32 per cent voting was reported till 1 p.m. in five of 40 Lok Sabha seats. But people in about a dozen villages in all five constituencies boycotted the elections to protest against lack of development.
Uttar Pradesh’s voting percentage was racing towards 40 per cent in all eight constituencies: Mathura, Hathras, Amroha, Agra, Fatehpur-Sikri, Aligarh, Nagina, Bulandshahr.
While brisk voting was reported in the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir, with over 32 per cent polling in just five hours, polling in Srinagar was muted.
A police constable was injured in stone pelting by youths trying to disrupt the election in Chrar-e-Sharief in Badgam district, which falls in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Despite several incidents of violence including an attack on CPI-M’s Salim and the smashing of an EVM, Bengal registered over 51 per cent polling in the three northern constituencies of Jalpaiguri, Raiganj and Darjeeling.
After a dull start, voting zoomed in Maharashtra which will elect 10 of the 48 Lok Sabha members on Thursday.
Voting also took place on Thursday in Chhattisgarh and Manipur.
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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