Vinesh Phogat Secures Victory in Julana Assembly Election 2024

The results for the Julana seat in the Haryana Assembly elections have been announced, and former wrestler Vinesh Phogat has emerged victorious. Running on a Congress ticket, Phogat defeated her closest rival, Yogesh Kumar from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by over 6,000 votes.

The total vote count for Vinesh Phogat was 65,080, while Yogesh Kumar secured 59,065 votes. This marked a clear victory for Phogat, who contested against another wrestler, Kavita Rani, known in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) circles as Kavita Dalal, representing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Rani, however, managed to get only 1,280 votes, leading to the forfeiture of her deposit.

According to the electoral rules, a candidate must secure at least 1/6th of the total votes to retain their deposit. In the Julana elections, a total of 1,38,871 votes were cast, requiring candidates to secure a minimum of 23,145 votes. Along with Kavita Rani, Surendra Lather from the Indian National Lok Dal also faced a forfeiture, gathering only 10,158 votes.

Kavita Rani, known for her participation in WWE, entered the wrestling ring wearing a traditional salwar-kameez and has previously been an MMA fighter. She hails from Bijnor village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, and made her debut in WWE in 2017. Rani regards Dalip Singh Rana, popularly known as Khali, as her mentor and won a gold medal in the 75 kg freestyle wrestling category at the South Asian Games in 2016. She was the first Indian woman to compete in WWE.

Vinesh Phogat, on the other hand, has had a distinguished career with a bronze in the 2019 and 2022 World Championships, and gold at the 2014, 2018, and 2022 Commonwealth Games. She also clinched gold at the 2018 Asian Games.

The election in Julana, described as a ‘wrestler vs wrestler’ contest, saw fierce competition. Vinesh Phogat’s victory marks her first win in an electoral battle, as anticipation grew after she took a decisive lead in the early counting rounds.