KHAMMAM: While political parties have their hands full with election prep and whatnot, people in Khammam Assembly constituency are trying their hand at making a few bucks this election season. Betting enthusiasts — some of them experts, in fact — have reportedly been encouraging business persons, land owners, political big-wigs and local big shots into gambling their money on candidates contesting in polls.
The betting does not happen in tens or twenties; reportedly, the organisers of the bet have been collecting money in lakhs. Sports stadiums and business centres like Gandhi Chowk have become the hot spot of election betting. It was learnt that some of the first and second grade politicians have also been trying their luck at betting money on their fellow party leaders.
While K Narendra, from Khammam town, said that one of his friends had placed his bets worth 2 lakh on the TRS candidate in Khammam Puvvada Ajay Kumar, G Mani Kumar from the same area admitted that he has invested about 5 lakh on People’s Front candidate Nama Nageswara Rao.
With an intense tug of war between Puvvada Ajay Kumar and Nama Nageswara Rao — who are both business big-wigs from the Kamma caste — going on in Khammam, it comes as no surprise that several people have shown interest in the betting scene. N Rama Rao, an observer of the process, said that Khammam town has become the centre of betting.
Further, Sattupalli constituency, close to AP, has also been witnessing the betting sprout. Pedamarthi Ravi from the TRS party and Sandra Venkata Veeraiah from the TDP are the major contestants in Sattupalli. K Nagaratnamma, from Sattupalli, said that poll gambling has spread across villages. This may also be because Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu has extended a special focus on Sattupalli.
Betting not under purview of ECI: CEO
Admitting that betting is going on at a massive scale across the State, CEO Rajat Kumar said that betting does not come under the purview of Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State police would take necessary action by filing criminal cases against those involved in the illegal activity during the polls. Participating in Meet the Press programme organised by Press Club, the CEO said that though betting is criminal in nature, the poll authorities are not monitoring the cases relating to betting as it does not fall under the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).