New Delhi: The Indian Railways have accepted the resignation of wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia after the duo joined the Congress last Friday.
Before joining the Congress on Friday, the wrestlers had resigned from their railway jobs. Congress announced poll ticket for Vinesh Phogat to contest Haryana assembly election from Julana. Bajrang Punia won’t contest the poll as of now and is included in the party farmers’ wing.
Earlier, the Railways had claimed their resignation were not accepted and this led to a controvery over their joining Congress. This has now paved the way for Vinesh to contest the Haryana assembly elections. Had the Railways rejected their resignations, there was bound to be hurdles for for Vinesh for filing her nomination papers.
What the law says
According to the law, if a person is in government job and wants to contest election, then he or she has to resign and get an NOC from the concerned department. At the time of filing the nomination, the NOC is attached with the papers and only after that returning officer accepts the application. Assembly elections are scheduled in Haryana on October 5. The filing of nomination papers are underway and the last date is September 12.
Congress banks on Vinesh to win Julana seat
Vinesh Phogat is contesting Haryana assembly election from Julana constituency on Congress ticket. Julana is Vinesh Phogat’s in-laws’ place. Congress has Julana to BJP multiple times and is eyeing the seat for a long time. The party last won the seat in 2005.
To win the seat once again, Congress is betting on the reputation of Vinesh Phogat the candidate. On the seat, Vinesh will face the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLA Amarjeet Dhanda, who won seat in 2019 assembly elections. Last time, Amarjit Dhanda defeated BJP’s Parminder Singh Dhull by 24,193. Dhanda had got 61,942 votes while Dhull came second with 37,749.