With only five days left for the counting of votes for the 2014 Assembly and lok Sabha elections in the State, the satta bazaar has become quite hot with heavy bets being placed on candidates’ fates.
Concerned official sources said punters have put bets to the tune of more than Rs 100 crore on the poll results. The bets range between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 crore. When the results keep coming in on the counting day, money in crores would change hands, the sources said.The sources further said the intelligence officials are on the lookout for solid clues to nab the satta operators.
BJP Mahakalpada Assembly candidate Bijay Mohapatra, whom Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik would not like to enter the State legislature, is the top favourite of the punters with the highest amount of bet put on his head. Whether Mohapatra wins or his BJD rival Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak does, a whopping Rs 10 crore would change hands in the satta market on the D-Day, said the sources
The Brahmagiri Assembly constituency, where senior Congress leader lalatendu Bidyadhar Mahapatra is believed to be giving a tough fight to sitting BJD MlA Sanjay Dasburma, is another high stakes constituency with bets amounting to Rs 8 crore being placed by the satta operators.The sources also said bets of up to Rs 1 crore have been put on the wining chances of Congress heavyweight Narasingha Mishra, who is contesting against incumbent BJD MlA AU Singh Deo in the Balangir Assembly seat. like Bijay Mohapatra, Mishra is another leader whom Naveen Patnaik won’t like to see in the Assembly for his sharp attacks on the BJD Government.
Punters have also risked bets from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore on Pritiranjan Ghadai of the BJD contesting against Congress’ Sarat Rout in the Sukinda Assembly constituency, BJP’s Jayanarayan Mishra in Sambalpur, Congress’ Jharsuguda candidate Naba Das, Finance Minister and Bijepur candidate Prasanna Acharya, BJP’s Rourkela nominee Dilip Ray and Health Minister Damodar Rout contesting from Paradip.
The sources also said punters have put forward bets of Rs 3 crore on Congress candidate for the Kalahandi lok Sabha seat Bhakta Das, BJD candidate for the Balangir lS seat Kalikesh Singh Deo and BJP’s Rudra Narayan Pany contesting for the Dhenkanal lS seat.