The NDA and the Grand Alliance might both be claiming imminent victory in the crucial political fight in Bihar, but punters believe it is the BJP-led NDA that might form the government in Bihar.

Going by their calculations on the prevailing mood and ground situation, punters seem to be sure that the BJP projecting PM Narendra Modi as the main face in the state will work, and the party will succeed in hijacking the development agenda of CM Nitish Kumar. 

They are also of the view that a larger proportion of voters, particularly young people, may not go for the Grand Alliance due to its association with Lalu Prasad. 

The illegal betting market is at its peak as the state enters the third phase of polling on Wednesday.

The punters have opened the rates and odds are in favour of the saffron party.

They believe that the NDA will easily cross the target of 122 seats required to form the government. 

Latest figures from the satta market said that the NDA will get between 150-152 seats of the total 243.
It predicted that the BJP, on its own, will not be able to reach the target of 122 seats as it has been given just 110-112 seats. 

The satta king market has given Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) 44-46 seats, while the RJD will be able to bag between 27-29 seats.

The Congress will get between 8-10 seats. 

Out of the 243 Assembly seats, the JD(U) and RJD are both fighting on 100 seats each. 

Mail Today's correspondent visited Daldali road, a wholesale market in Central Patna, to talk to some punters. 

"Our prediction is based upon the analysis of ground reports. Bookies believe that Nitish joining hands with Lalu might backfire and they will not be able to reach the target of 122 seats to form the government in Bihar," one of the punters said. 

Punters in Patna revealed that their partners are scattered in cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Patna, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai and other cities, but they operate under four-five big players. 

A Patna-based businessman said that he and his friends are putting lot of money into satta through the punters.

The businessman said that these big players have their networks in big cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Surat. 

"People know each other in this business. Smalltime players always operate under their bosses and these bosses know each other. Even if they shift their base, they are always in touch with each other through internet or mobile phones. To avoid police, we keep changing our contact numbers very often," he added. 

Punters are offering 80 paise for the 150-152 seats for the NDA.

Similarly, they are offering Rs 1.20 for the Grand Alliance forming the government. It means that if one puts Rs 1 lakh on NDA getting between the given numbers, he would get Rs 80,000. 

It's not that punters get their prediction right every time.
A punter who runs a grains business in Patna said that many a times predictions fail. Last time in Delhi Assembly election, Aam Aadmi Party started with 20 seats and went up to 34 seats in the satta market. 

However, Aam Aadmi Party ended up getting 67 seats way ahead of any prediction.

PM returns 3 Idiots jibe to Bihar CM 

By Giridhar Jha in Sitamarhi 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to perfect the art of reciting poems so that he could make full use of it at the mushairas (poetry sessions) after his defeat in the Assembly elections. 

Reacting to Nitish's poetic barb, Modi likened the Grand Alliance of the JD(U), RJD and Congress to the "3 Idiots". 

On Monday, the chief minister had recited a limerick based on a popular song (Behti hawa sa tha woh…) from Aamir Khan blockbuster 3 Idiots during his media interaction in which he had taken a dig at the prime minister for his promises to bring the black money. 

Modi chose to hit back at Nitish at his Sitamarhi rally on Tuesday.

He said that he had watched Nitish doing his first mushaira on Monday. 

"He thought he would give Lalu a run for his money in entertainment. I know that there are three partners in his alliance, but why did he choose a song from 3 Idiots for his first mushaira," he asked. 

Conjoined twins get just one vote between them 

By Giridhar Jha in Patna 

Bihar's well-known conjoined twins, Saba Shakeel and Farah Shakeel, are excited to cast their votes for the first time in their life on Wednesday.

But there is a hitch. They can't vote separately. 

The 18-year-old sisters, who are joined at their heads and share an artery that carries blood to their hearts, will have to agree on the candidate they want to vote for in the Digha constituency going to the polls in this phase. 

According to their family, the sisters have been issued a common voter identity card by the Election Commission of India, which will not allow them to cast their votes separately.

The card also has their names clubbed as "Saba Farah." 

Saba said that she could not understand why her sister and she were considered one person when they are two different individuals. 

Tamanna Mallick, Saba and Farah's elder brother, said that his sisters should have been issued separate voter identity cards. 

"They both are keen on taking part in the greatest festival of democracy and want to vote for development," he said. 

Tamanna claimed that he had pointed out the discrepancy to the Election Commission officials but was told that his sisters could cast their votes separately if their names were separately entered on the electoral roll. 

The family members also pointed out that there was another discrepancy in their card. 

"Their birthday has been entered as Januray 1, 1990 but in reality, they were born on March 1, 1997," Tamanna said. 

Farah and Saba shot into the limelight in 2005 when leading American neurosurgeon Dr Benjamin Carson from Johns Hopkins Children's Centre in Baltimore, USA came down to examine them at a Delhi hospital and expressed hope to successfully separate them through surgery.

But their parents did not agree because of the risks involved. 

In June 2011, the parents of the twin sisters had pleaded for their mercy killing after their health deteriorated. 

Testing times for major players 

By Giridhar Jha in Patna 

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the third phase of polling in Bihar to be held on Wednesday. 

Altogether 50 constituencies in six districts - Patna, Vaishali, Bhojpur, Buxar, Saran and Nalanda - will go to polls in this crucial phase that will determine the fate of many important candidates, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad's sons, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap. 

Other prominent candidates in this phase are the BJP's leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, senior JD(U) minister Shayam Rajak, HAM leader Vrishin Patel, eight-term BJP MLA Satyadeo Narayan Arya, jailed bahubali legislator Anant Singh, Vivek Thakur and Rahul Tiwari (Shahpur), and the sons of veteran leaders CP Thakur and Shivanand Tiwari respectively. 

Altogether 1.45 crore voters will exercise their franchise in what is expected to be the extremely important phase for the main alliances. 

The third phase will not only test the BJP's hold on its traditional strongholds such as Patna, but also determine the sway of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his native Nalanda district and that of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan on his pocket borough of Hajipur. 

RJD's president Lalu Prasad's traditional stronghold of Saran is also going to polls in this phase.

The Election Commission has made tight arrangements for the polling in all the districts, especially in the Diara (river) belt to ensure peaceful polling. 

It has pressed into service 700 companies of central forces to pre-empt any bid to disrupt polling.
It will use five choppers and 47 motorboats to monitor the polling.