New Delhi: With only 13 days to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha election results and two of the seven rounds of polling left, the satta bazaar is abuzz with speculation. Will BJP get a clean majority? Will Narendra Modi be back for a second term? How much will Congress be able to dent BJP’s chances? The answers to these questions are raising the stakes at India’s biggest satta bazaars (betting markets) in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. How many seats will the BJP win? This is the most betted on question, say bookies. According to the latest available information, Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch satta bazaar puts the Lok Sabha seat tally at 247-250 for BJP and 77-79 for Congress. Rajasthan’s Phalodi satta bazaar, which has a long history of predicting elections right, puts the figures at 240-245 for BJP with the collective NDA total going up to 320-325. The Phalodi satta bazaar predicts BJP winning 21-22 seats in Rajasthan alone, with Congress managing a mere three-four Lok Sabha seats. The mood at the Surat satta market is not much different which puts the figures at 246-248 in favour of BJP and with Congress coming at a distant second with 78-80 seats. BJP according to the market sources, could win in 22-23 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. Meanwhile, an infographic attributed to News18 Network doing the rounds on social media and instant messaging platforms that show betting market figures is fake and wrongly attributed to the News18 Network. News18 has not produced any such infographic.
The fake infographic in question also deviates a lot from the style and design that News18 channels and websites generally use. 542 seats across 36 states and Union Territories are voting to elect the 17th Lok Sabha. Polls in one seat, Vellore in Tamil Nadu, has been countermanded. 424 seats have already voted in the first five phases of polling with 118 seats more to go for the sixth and the seventh phases. Counting of votes will take place on May 23, 2019.
