Feature
High turnout in Tripura assembly by-elections
Agartala: Despite inclement weather, over 83 percent of the 92,146 voters on Saturday cast their vote in the by-elections to two assembly constituencies in Tripura, officials said.
The balloting, which started at 8 a.m., in Pratapgarh and Surma assembly segments was absolutely peaceful.
This is for the first time candidates’ photographs have been displayed in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to avoid confusion among the voters.
“Over 83 percent voters have cast their ballot in the by-election of Pratapgarh and Surma. The election was absolutely peaceful and smooth,” additional chief electoral officer Debashish Modak told IANS.
“There was no report of any incident, except malfunctioning of two EVMs, reported from the two seats,” Modak said.
He said there was no complaint of electoral misconduct raised by any political party.
“Voters, including women, were seen queuing up to exercise their franchise in most of the 115 polling stations in both assembly constituencies,” the official said.
Modak said : “Central para-military force and Tripura State Rifles personnel were deployed for smooth polling.”
Inspector general of police (police control) Nepal Das told IANS that no untoward incident was reported during the polling.
According to the officials, 50,004 voters in Pratapgarh and 42,142 in Surma assembly constituencies were eligible to cast their votes to choose their representative from the nine candidates in the fray.
The Election Commission had appointed four observers, around a 100 micro-observers and several hundred polling personnel for the by-polls.
Counting of ballots for the assembly seats, both reserved for the Scheduled Castes, will be held on June 30.
The by-elections were necessitated after the death of ruling CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) stalwart and former minister Anil Sarkar (Pratapgarh) and former minister Sudhir Das (Surma).
Sarkar represented his constituency eight times in a row since 1978 while Das won the Surma seat on five consecutive occasions since 1993.
Besides CPI-M, the main opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party and other smaller parties put up candidates in Pratapgarh (in western Tripura) and Surma (in northern Tripura) assembly constituencies.
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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