Day into counting, high stakes involved

People bet on probable victors in MCC polls

After cricket, elections have turned out be another hobby for punters to try and make a quick windfall. With a day left for the fate of the candidates to be decided, people are busy racking their brains over probable victors in the recently concluded elections to Mysore City Corporation (MCC).

If one were to go by the betting odds, Suhail Baig, an Independent at ward 43 has emerged as a favourite out of the 433 candidates in the fray. 

With his winning prospects high, many have placed the odds at 10:10 (for example if a person places a bet for Rs 100, he will pocket the equal amount in case of Baig’s victory) for Baig.

Second favourite among the bookies is again an independent at ward 53 -- Kabir Ahmed, who is contesting against the incumbent Aftab Anwar Baig of Congress.

The odds are said to tilting towards Aftab. Likewise, most of the wards in Narasimharaja assembly segment has turned out to be a much sought after place for punters.

According to betters, at ward 57 there is a keen fight between incumbent corporator P Devaraj and M B Nataraj of JD(S).

In ward 58, the fight is among incumbent R Ananthu of Congress and Manju of JD(S), followed by Congress’ Ayaz Pasha alias Pandu versus Mohammed Shariff of JD(S) at ward 54; incumbent H N Srikantaiah an independent versus Shafi Ahmed of JD(S) at ward 60; incumbent and independent Syed Hasrathulla versus Putt of Janata Dal (Secular) at ward 49; incumbent Shanthu Nesan of Congress versus independent M D Nagaraj of JD(S) at ward 44; BJP’s M C Chikkanna versus Suneel of Congress at ward 10; and between incumbent A V Vidya Urs of BJP versus Sheela Suresh of JD(S) at ward three.Interestingly, at ward seven, barring lucre, autorickshaws are also at stake.

Former mayor R Purushotham is seeking re-election and for him the arch rival is C Eshwar of BJP at the particular ward.