Phogat wins debut election from Julana

New Delhi: Congress candidate and former wrestler Vinesh Phogat has won the Julana assembly seat in Haryana. Her win comes even as the ruling BJP has crossed the majority mark in the Haryana assembly and was leading on 50 seats, while the Congress was ahead on 34, according to the latest trends on the Election Commission website.

The BJP’s stellar performance in Haryana, set for a third term in the state, has invalidated the exit poll results that have predicted a Congress comeback in the state.

The counting of votes polled in the October 5 Haryana elections began at 8 am on Tuesday.

The Olympian defeated BJP’s Captain Yogesh Bairagi, a former Army officer, and former professional wrestler Kavita Dalal from the Aam Aadmi Party - a member of the opposition bloc INDIA at the centre - with a margin of more than 6,000 seats.

Ms Phogat, who suffered an Olympic heartbreak this year after her shock disqualification, joined the Congress on September 6. She made it to the party’s candidate list just hours later.

“I am starting a new innings. I want sportspersons don’t have to face what we had to go through,” she said.

Last year, Ms Phogat led a long-running protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was then a BJP MP.

She thanked the Congress after her political entry and said, “It is only when times are bad that one finds out who is standing with them. When we were dragged on the roads, every party other than the BJP stood with us and understood our pain and our tears”.

The elections in Haryana are the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress following the Lok Sabha polls, and the results are expected to be used by the winner to build a narrative in their favour in other states where polls are due over the next few months.