Amid the ongoing Congress CEC meeting for the Haryana Assembly elections, Vinesh Phogat has been offered to contest from any of the three assembly seats of Haryana on behalf of Congress, sources told India TV. Notably, Charkhi Dadri, Badhda, and Julana are the three seats that have been offered to Vinesh Phogat to contest the Haryana Assembly polls.
Vinesh Phogat yet to give consent
Charkhi Dadri is Vinesh Phogat's home district and her village Balali comes under Badhada assembly constituency, while her in-laws' house is in Julana. Amid these developments, Vinesh Phogat, however, has not yet given her consent or any indication to contest elections from any of these seats.
Bajrang Punia likely to contest from Bahadurgarh or Bhiwani.
According to sources, Bajrang Punia has been given the option by Congress to contest elections from Bahadurgarh or Bhiwani. Both these seats are Jat-dominated seats.
Bajrang Punia has indicated to contest elections from Badli and Sonipat of Jhajjar. But sitting MLAs are currently the strong faces on both the seats.
Congress does not want to cancel the ticket of sitting MLA Kuldeep Vats from Badli because he is one of the big faces of Haryana. At the same time, the current Congress MLA from Sonipat, Surendra Panwar, is in jail in a case and Congress wants to give ticket to him or someone from his family from there.
As of now, no final confirmation has been given by Bajrang Punia about contesting elections from anywhere, sources added.
Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat meet Rahul Gandhi
Earlier in the day, wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with reports suggesting that deliberations are on to finalise the seats for the two wrestlers.
AICC general secretary in-charge Haryana Deepak Babaria had on Tuesday said there will be clarity on the candidature of two wrestlers by Thursday.
Punia is a Tokyo Games bronze medallist, while Phogat became the first woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final, the stage where she was disqualified after being found over weight by about 100 gm in her 50-kg category weigh-in. She subsequently announced her retirement from the sport.
The Congress's central election committee has cleared the names of candidates for 66 seats out of 90 till Tuesday. Punia and Phogat were part of the protest over sexual harassment allegations against former BJP MP and then Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in 2023.
The Congress and AAP are engaged in seat-sharing talks for the Haryana Assembly polls with hard bargaining from both sides. Voting on 90 assembly seats in Haryana will be held on October 5 and counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.
