Guj gamblers play safe, don't write off Congress

New Delhi: The fight between the BJP and the Congress looks set to go down to the wire and punters are making a safe bet.

Bettors have spent around Rs 1,200 crore speculating on the election results and since Friday evening they have swung slightly in favour of the Congress.

That is a good change in fortune for the party, as 10 days ago no one was expecting even for 90 seats for the Congress. On Saturday, punters were putting six rupees and 50 paise on the party.

Correspondingly, rates for the BJP have marginally decreased. Earlier for 90 seats in favour of the BJP, the return was 25 paise on a rupee while now it is 15 paise on a rupee.

There is a view that the punters are changing tack on the eve of counting to ensure that they don't lose money, as the more money they put on the BJP they the more they will lose.

But the safe gamble is to bet that BJP leader and Chief Minister Narendra Modi will the election by a narrow margin.

This is also something that all exit polls have forecast. CNN-IBN’s exit poll forecast 92 to 100 seats for the BJP, 77 to 85 seats for the Congress and three to seven seats for others.

NDTV’s exit poll forecasts 90 to 100 seats for the BJP, 70 to 95 for the Congress and three to five for others. Star News’ exit poll gave 103 seats to the BJP, 76 to the Congress, and three seats to others.

Zee News gave 93 to 104 seats to BJP, 75 to 87 to Congress and two to six seats to others.

Both parties don’t give much regard to exit polls and each claims they will win the election. The elections held on December 11 and 16 have generated interest across the country as they are being regarded as a referendum on Modi.

In the first phase, Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat voted in 87 constituencies. The phase saw 60 percent of the 17.8 million electorate voting.

In the second phase, 63 percent of 11.5 million voters turned out in 95 constituencies of central and north Gujarat.

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