Punters bet big on Munugodu
Tight security is in place for the counting of the Munugodu byelection which will begin at 8 am on Sunday
Hyderabad: The Munugodu byelection result, which would be announced on Sunday, had not only seen parties vying with each other in paying money per vote which went up to about Rs 5,000 per vote but has also set a new trend of betting almost on the lines of IPL matches and the cricket bookies played a major role.
The new phenomenon was that the betting over the bypoll was more in Andhra Pradesh. In Visakhapatnam alone, over Rs 200 crore worth of betting had taken place. The other towns where betting was very high were Bhimavaram in West Godavari, Kadapa, Kurnool and East Godavari districts. Over Rs 1,500-crore worth of betting was witnessed, sources said. Those who showed interest in betting are said to be big businessmen, realtors and professional betting experts.
A majority of them are said to have put their money on TRS candidate. Betting was done in the name of candidates, party, and which candidate would get how many votes in each mandal.
In some places, the betting amount on Rajagopal Reddy was minimum of Rs 3 lakh. For every Rs 1 lakh, Rs 3 lakh is being offered by bookies. The parameters of the survey included the strength of each party, popularity of the candidates, and mandal-wise votes.
The betters had kept a close watch on the campaign strategies and studied chances of candidates winning the polls. They mixed with local people and tried to assess the candidates and their winning chances. They also closely observed the polling trends on an hourly basis.
The bookies feel that the victory margin for the winning candidate would be around 5,000 to 10,000 votes.
One of the main reasons for this interest in Andhra Pradesh is because people there feel that TRS which had now changed its name as BRS would contest some seats in Andhra Pradesh during the next general elections.
Raju, one of those who participated in the betting, said that he had put in Rs 10 lakh saying that TRS would win the election. He said he has been a professional in betting and so far had won 90 per cent of betting. He added that he does not have any other business. The stakes were in the ratio of one:two. It is said that many realtors also participated in the betting.