Lok Sabha polls: Bookies excited about Narendra Modi wave, give NDA 317 seats

Amidst the ongoing General Elections, bookies in Mumbai are predicting 317 Lok Sabha seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Amidst the ongoing General Elections, bookies in Mumbai are predicting 317 Lok Sabha seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

With the results slated to come on May 16, bookies have given BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi a strong lead over his rival and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

A news channel has quoted a bookie as saying: "The favourite this election is the NDA. The current rates are Narendra Modi at 48 paise, Rahul Gandhi at 60 paise, Mulayam Singh Yadav at Rs 5.50 and Arvind Kejriwal Rs 11.50".
"The satta bazaar is also going by the leher (wave) and the NDA is the clear favourite," the bookie added.

Forecasting a clean sweep in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, bookies have predicted 85 seats for NDA in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Surprisingly, Priyanka Gandhi is a favourite in satta bazaar with 12 paise rate running on her, the channel has quoted a bookie as saying.

The logic of placing the lowest money on the favourite party is to attract more punters in the betting market. The more money that comes in means more business, and also larger profits to be divided. Punters place money in lakhs and if their party wins then they are paid according to the price fixed.
For example, if a punter places Rs 1 lakh bet on BJP, and if the party wins, the punter will get Rs 2.25 lakh. When AAP won, those who placed bets on the party got Rs 3.40 lakh for every one lakh rupees they betted. A tidy profit!

As betting is illegal, officials said they would take appropriate action against any betting activity.

Police usually arrest a bookie or a punter under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. It is a non-bailable offence and the offender can be jailed for seven or more years.

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