Satta market Lok Sabha poll verdict: BJP to get 244-247; 80 for Congress

The satta market is betting on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the government for the second time in a row, with Narendra Modi continuing as the prime minister. 

After the poll dates were announced, the illegal betting market came out with the number of seats that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win on May 23. The market is sticking to those numbers, with some minor changes.

The satta market, which accepts bets on cricket matches, elections, etc, is expecting 244-247 seats or the BJP. In mid-March, its tally was 245-251. With this tally, it expects the NDA to form the government, with 40 seats for its allies. 

The market is expecting the Congress to win around 80 seats.

The grey market, which usually maintains no physical records, is seeing some participants feed the bets in a computer software this time. Sources said key operators were based overseas, mainly in Dubai.

The satta market is not giving the BJP a full majority, which is in divergence to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a press conference on Friday. Some punters also became sceptical after the press conference and said they found the BJP to be defensive and worried. 

Sources said high-roller bookies were maintaining their positions. Bets are also being placed on other parties winning a majority or the BJP not getting enough seats to form a majority.

Bookies said there were also cases where some candidates had placed bets on rival candidates as a hedge in case they lost. For market players, betting against the NDA is a hedge against their bullish stock market bets in derivatives.

After 7 pm on Sunday, the market will readjust the odds following the exit polls that various channels will announce after the end of the last phase of voting.

In the 2014 general election, the satta market was expecting the NDA to win, but it did not expect the BJP to win half the seats. As a result, many punters had to bear huge losses. 

At the state level, bookies are expecting the BJP-led NDA to win 23 seats in Gujarat, 42 in Uttar Pradesh, 33 in Maharashtra, 22 in Madhya Pradesh, and 21 in Rajasthan.