Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat likely to contest Haryana elections as Congress candidates

Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Haryana amid rumours of her joining the party ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Bajrang Punia also met the Leader of Opposition.

Haryana Assembly eletions

Polling in Haryana will be held on October 5. Votes will be counted on October 8.

The Congress on Tuesday had said that it would provide clarity on fielding Phogat for the Haryana elections after an AICC central election committee on Monday.


Sources said the CEC meeting cleared 34 of the 49 names that it discussed.

Read more: Vinesh Phogat's dreams do not end with Paris. Wrestling is her life

The Congress party posted in a tweet on X saying, "Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi meets Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia."



Phogat and Punia are likely to contest Haryana Assembly elections on Congress ticket, said ANI sources. The two wrestlers will also meet Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, in Delhi.

Meanwhile, Congress and AAP have started seat-sharing talks for the Haryana assembly polls which could lead to the continuation of the alliance they had in the state during the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

The Congress has formed a three-member committee, which includes the party's screening committee chairman for the state Ajay Maken, AICC in-charge of Haryana Deepak Babaria and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, for seat-sharing talks with Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party.

Party general secretary KC Venugopal will oversee the work of the committee.

Congress sources said that the party is willing to give 3-5 seats to AAP and one to the Samajwadi Party in Haryana which has a 90-member assembly.

Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat in wrestlers' protest

Phogat, who reached the final of the Paris Olympics in the 50 kg category, was disqualified due to being overweight on the day of the gold medal match. She was at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest in 2023. She, along with Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists Sakshi Malik and Punia led the protests demanding action against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and then BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. He was accused of sexual harassment of several female wrestlers. The trail court is currently hearing the proceedings against Singh.

Delhi High Court had earlier in the month declined any immediate relief Singh on his plea seeking quashing of the FIR and charges framed against him in an alleged sexual harassment case lodged by several women wrestlers.


During the brief hearing, the court also questioned Singh for seeking “omnibus” relief in a single petition. “There can’t be an omnibus order for everything...this is nothing but an oblique way,” Justice Neena Bansal Krishna remarked, pointing out Singh was challenging everything after the trial had commenced.

The plea was opposed by the counsel for the State and the survivors, who claimed that it was not maintainable. The complaints were made by six women wrestlers, and the trial court found that the complaint of one of them was time-barred, so it framed charges based on the complaints of five victims, senior advocate Rebecca John stated, adding that, "this shows there was a deep application of mind."