Vinesh Phogat | Olympian, wrestler, new Haryana legislator

Vinesh Phogat, renowned wrestler, joins politics, wins Haryana Legislative Assembly seat, representing Julana on Congress ticket.

Seasoned wrestler and new entrant into the political field Vinesh Phogat shall now be a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, representing the constituency of Julana. Contesting on a Congress ticket, Vinesh Phogat won with a margin of 6,015 votes over her closest competitor, pilot Yogesh Kumar from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Considered one of India’s top wrestlers, Ms. Phogat announced her entry into politics after she retired from wrestling earlier this year, following an unfortunate disqualification ahead of the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics 2024. This marked her maiden electoral fight.

Notably her cousin Babita Kumari, also a top wrestler, had contested the Haryana legislative assembly polls in 2019 on a BJP ticket.

On September 6, Vinesh Phogat and decorated Olympic wrestler Bajrang Punia both joined the Indian National Congress at the party’s Delhi headquarters. Mr. Punia was made the working President of the All India Kisan Congress. While he did not compete in the assembly polls, Vinesh Phogat was fielded as the candidate from Julana.

The constituency witnessed an interesting political contest with another wrestler in the fray— Aam Aadmi Party’s Kavita Dalal, a South Asian Games gold medallist and the first Indian woman to participate in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The others in the fray included Jannayak Janta Party’s Amarjeet Singh Dhanda, the sitting MLA, BJP’s Yogesh Bairagi, a professional pilot and the Indian National Lok Dal’s Surender Lather.

In the final tally, Ms. Phogat notched 65,080 votes to edge out Mr. Bairagi, the BJP candidate, by a margin of 6015. INLD’s Lather was in a distant third place.

While a novice to political office, Ms. Phogat has been vocal about social issues. She, along with fellow wrestlers Punia and Sakshi Malik, formed a pivotal part of the protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), for alleged sexual abuse of several women athletes over the years. She also expressed support for protests by farmers in Haryana demanding Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for various crops and the fulfillment of several promises made following the protests of 2020-21.