With Punjab going to vote on Monday, the satta market has already predicted that the Congress will form the next government by crossing the magic figure. While the ruling SAD-BJP alliance will seat in the Opposition benches this time, the People’s Party of Punjab will get three seats.

The satta market, which had earlier stated that the polls will be closely fought, was now giving Congress 61 seats and the SAD-BJP alliance 48 (SAD-40, BJP-8). The tally adds up to 109, out of the 117 total seats going to polls. Among the remaining eight seats, while the bookies have given PPP three seats, six seats have gone to independents.

Though initially, bookies had only given one seat to PPP, they are now giving Lehra, Maur and Baluana seats to the party. While from Maur, PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal is contesting, Ramesh Kumar was fighting from Baluana.

On Sunday, while bookies bet on SAD was three, for Congress, the figure was just 30 paisa. According to this, if one puts Rs 1 lakh on Congress, he will get Rs 1.30 lakh if the party wins the elections. On the other hand, if one bets on Akali Dal, then he will get Rs 3 lakh if the party returns to power. With maximum bet being put on the SAD, this means that the party was going to lose the poll battle. In betting parlance, minimum money is played on the winner — the Congress, in this case.

“The main betting is on for traditional rivals Congress and SAD. First, there was hardly any betting on PPP but in the last couple of days, there have been bets on PPP. In most of the seats, it will act as spoiler,’’ said an bookie.

The satta market is also predicting that all heavyweights of all parties in the fray will win, except senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from Lehra. From here, PPP’s Bhagwant Mann is being projected as the winner. According to the bettings being placed, state Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal will win their respective seats easily.

Moreover, bookies are indicating that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will win from his traditional Lambi constituency. His own brother Gurdas Badal (PPP) and cousin Maheshinder Badal (Congress) are contesting against him. The bookies have given the chief minister a slight edge.

The betting market in the state has already crossed Rs 3,500 crore mark the highest ever in the run-up to an Assembly election.