The Julana Assembly constituency in Haryana’s Jind district is set for a three-way contest in the upcoming elections. Congress candidate and Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat will face off against BJP’s Capt Yogesh Bairagi and AAP’s Kavita Dalal.
Polling will be held on October 5, with votes to be counted on October 8.
BJP nominee 35-year-old Capt Yogesh Bairagi is the vice president of the Haryana BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and serves as co-convenor of the BJP Sports Cell.
Vinesh Phogat, a 30-year-old former wrestler from Balali in Charkhi Dadri district, is contesting from Julana, where her in-laws reside. Phogat, known for being the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympics final, retired from wrestling to enter politics. She was disqualified in Paris for being 100 grams overweight during the weigh-in for the 50-kilogram category.
Phogat, along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, joined Congress after leading protests against former WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Meanwhile, AAP’s Kavita Dalal, India’s first female World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler, is also in the fray. Dalal, who joined AAP in 2022 and currently heads its state sports wing, began her career in weightlifting before transitioning to wrestling. In 2023, she accused former IPS officer and then president of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Harbhajan Singh of sexual harassment during her weightlifting career. Dalal won a gold medal in the 75 kg category at the 2016 South Asian Games.
Kavita, speaking to The Indian Express, expressed respect for Phogat but said that her campaign would focus on addressing the issues facing the people of Julana. “My fight is not against Vinesh but against the difficulties people are facing in the constituency,” she said.