Congress’s Vinesh Phogat wins debut election from Haryana’s Julana

Congress candidate and wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Tuesday won the Julana seat in the Haryana Assembly election, according to the Election Commission.
She defeated her BJP rival, Yogesh Kumar, by a margin of 6,015 votes in her maiden election. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Surender Lather came third in the high-profile constituency in Jind district.
Phogat, who initially took the lead when the counting began, was trailing at one point as the process continued. However, she regained her lead and maintained it, resulting in a comfortable victory.

In the 2019 election, the seat was won by Amarjeet Dhanda of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In 2014 and 2009, the seat was won by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Parminder Singh Dhull.
Haryana voted in a single phase on October 5, with the elections recording a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent. Julana saw a 74.66 voter turnout.
Phogat, the 30-year-old three-time Olympian who led protests against BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh, joined the Congress on September 6. She was disqualified from the 2024 Paris Olympics for being overweight ahead of what would have been a historic final in the women’s 50kg wrestling event.