Channapatna witnessed intense betting on results day too

The bus shelter opposite the Government Engineering College on Ramanagara’s outskirts was bustling with people on Saturday. As the counting of votes progressed on the college campus, the crowd only grew bigger at the bus shelter.

People, who had earlier placed their stakes on Congress candidate C.P. Yogeshwar’s victory, were now placing bets on the probable margin of victory. After the seventh round of counting, when Mr. Yogeshwar took the lead, the stakes grew bigger. While those at the bus shelter were placing bets to the tune of a few thousand rupees, there were also those calling on the phone to increase their stake. The margin of victory of 30,000 received the highest stake.

While this was the scenario on the day of results, earlier, as the result day neared, informal bookies are learnt to have had a field day taking bets on the outcome, a common practice during elections in the political hotbed of Old Mysore region.

“The betting only intensified after Mr. Yogeshwar and NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy appealed publicly to their followers not to place bets. Till Friday evening, odds were stacked against Mr. Yogeshwar with bookies offering ₹1.5 lakh on a bet of ₹1 lakh for his (unlikely) win,” a Congress worker said. He said that Congress’ chances were seen as low after Mr. Yogeshwar, portraying himself as an underdog at a press meet, listed out the challenges that he had to cross to win the election.

Another Congress worker said the bookies were taking a commission of 2%, and that people from Mandya were more interested in betting than even the locals. There were also unconfirmed reports that a few had also placed a portion of their agricultural land on the table. Besides money and jewellery, buildings and agricultural land were also offered on stakes, which have ruined families.

Published - November 24, 2024 01:09 am IST