Who Is Yogesh Bairagi Pitted Against Vinesh Phogat In Harayan Polls? BJP & AAP Release 2nd List

New Delhi: The BJP has fielded Captain Yogesh Bairagi against Olympian Vinesh Phogat from Julana in Haryana, making it one of the most anticipated battles of the single-phase Haryana Assembly elections to be held on October 5.

Bairagi featured in the saffron party’s second list of 21, taking the total declared candidates to 87 for the 90-member assembly. Among others, Manish Grover will contest from Rohtak, Sanjay Singh from Nuh and Pradeep Sangwan from Baroda in the upcoming poll.  The party, however, has dropped six legislators, including the minister of state for education.

In the first list of 67 candidates released on September 4, the BJP had fielded Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Ladwa, former Haryana BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar from Badli, Former state Home Minister and veteran party leader Anil Vij will from Ambala Cantt and Arti Singh Rao, daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, from Ateli.

Several political heavyweights, who recently switched allegiance to the party, have also been given tickets. Devender Singh Babli, formerly of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), will now contest from Tohana, while Shruti Choudhry, granddaughter of former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, is set to run from Tosham.

Three seats where the party is yet to announce the candidates are Faridabad-NIT, Sirsa and Mahendergarh.

Who Is Captain Yogesh Bairagi ?

Yogesh, 35, is state vice president of the BJP’s youth wing and state co-convenor of party’s Haryana Sports Cell. A resident of Safidon, he worked as a pilot with Air India before joining politics. He was involved in crucial rescue and relief operations during the Chennai floods and participated in the “Vande Bharat” mission launched to bring back stranded Indian nationals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to TOI.

AAP Declares 9 More Candidates

Earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also released its second list of nine candidates for the assembly poll and fielded former minister Chhatar Pal Singh from Barwala a day after he switched over from the BJP. The party’ had released it first list of 20 candidates n Monday after seat-sharing talks with the Congress dragged on for days without much headway.

While AAP wanted to contest 10 of the 90 seats, with at least three of them being non-negotiable, the Congress was not ready to part with more than six seats of its choice, according to media reports.

Congress has so far released the names of 40 candidates in two parts – 31 and 9. Vinesh had featured in its first list of 31 candidates announced on September 6 soon after she along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia joined the party. the Congress has fielded former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat.

While the state will witness a single-phase polling process on October 5, the results to be declared on October 8. Candidates have until September 12 to file their nominations, which will be scrutinized on September 13.