Delhi elections 2015: BJP favourite and AAP the dark horse among bookies

New Delhi: A week before Delhi goes to polls, the illegal betting market seems to have decided that Bharatiya Janata Party will emerge a clear winner and Kiran Bedi will be chief minister. But, with BJP being the 'favourite' of bookies, betting on this party will get you the least number of bucks.

Betting on Aam Aadmi Party will fetch one more than double his money while no bets are being accepted for Congress party as of now because bookies believe chances of its winning the polls are quite bleak.

The rates for BJP floated on Saturday were 1:36, i.e. for every Re 1 placed on BJP, one would get 36 paise upon victory. The odds for BJP were 1:2.5, a master bookie said. "This means that if one places Rs 1 lakh on BJP he or she would get only Rs 36,000 if the party wins the Delhi election. However, placing the same amount on Aam Aadmi Party will fetch them Rs 2.5 lakh," said the bookie.

For the CM candidate, the bookies TOI spoke to said that if one betted Rs 1 lakh on Kiran Bedi as CM, they'd get Rs 36,000 and, if they place the same amount on Arvind Kejriwal, they would win Rs 2.5 lakh. "Most people are playing safe by betting on Bedi as she is the candidate from what seems to be the strongest party," another bookie, operating from New Delhi area, said. They unanimously predicted that BJP was going to bag 40-42 seats and Aam Aadmi Party 20-22 seats.

Apart from parties and CM candidates, bets are also being accepted on individual candidates from any of the 70 constituencies. However, bookies are getting bets only on seats in which a tough fight is expected — such as New Delhi, Krishna Nagar and Mayur Vihar from where Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia are, respectively, contesting.

More than Rs 1,000 crore is at stake as far as the satta market is concerned. Last year, bookies suffered huge losses when AAP emerged as the surprise winner in many seats. Betting is illegal in India and police register cases under the Gambling Act whenever they receive information about any such activity.