Bookies bet on even odds in Bangalore

BANGALORE: Now that the racing season is between the winter and summer sessions, a couple of leading bookmakers have cashed in on the election fever. They've identified 10 constituencies in Karnataka and opened the odds.
The bookies, who pick the brains of top political analysts, reckon that the Congress and BJP are likely to share honours in the four Bangalore constituencies.Rookie Rizwan Arshad (Congress) and DK Suresh (Congress) are fancied to win from Central and Rural respectively, while HN Ananth Kumar and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, both of the BJP, hold a definite edge in South and North.
A week before the polls, the bookies opened Ananth Kumar, the overwhelming favourite in the South, at (8/10), while offering (13/10) odds against his Congress rival Nandan Nilekani who is making his electoral debut. It means that a bet of Rs 100 will fetch Rs 180 on Ananth Kumar, while Rs 100 on Nandan will get Rs 230.
The moment the odds went up, the cash registers of bookies operating from their many hideouts started ticking and big sums of money were wagered on Nandan to the surprise of many political pundits. Despite the fact that big bettors are strongly fancying the Congress candidate and big money continues to pour in on Nandan, the bookies haven't bothered to reduce the odds on Nandan and are accepting all the bets on Nandan, confident that Ananth will be hard to beat.
In Bangalore Rural, the Congress, the bookies admit, holds a whip hand. Suresh opened the favourite at (8/10) and in less than 12 hours, was installed the big favourite, the bookies reducing the odds to (30/100) revealing that the Congress main hope was too far head and that his rivals appear to have already thrown in the towel.
In Bangalore Central, BJP's PC Mohan was expected to start the favourite, but the bookies have chosen to go with Rizwan Arshad. The bookies are surprisingly placing Mohan behind JD(S) candidate Nandini Alva, who they believe is a dark horse and poses a threat to Rizwan.
The Central picture is still not clear but the Congress campaign led by chief minister Siddarammiah, home minister KJ George and Roshan Baig has helped Rizwan put his nose in front in what appears to be an intense struggle for supremacy.
"It will be close and the swing in the final five days will prove decisive," said Humaira, principal of Anmol Kindergarten in Shivajinagar while pointing out that Central is looking for a young and fresh face.
Bangalore North, according to the bookies, is a 50-50 affair. Sadananda Gowda is still the favourite but C Narayanaswamy's final thrust is fast closing the gap. The smiling Gowda is offered at 8/10, while his Congress rival is close on the heels with the double-your-money offer.
Another former chief minster H D Kumaraswamy is a favourite in Chikkaballapur and actor Ramya despite the many problems she is facing in Mandya is another big favourite with the bookies.