Haryana Polls 2024: AAP releases names of 30 more candidates; ex-wrestler Dalal to take on Vinesh Phogat

New Delhi/Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday released the names of 30 more candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, fielding former wrestler Kavita Dalal from Julana against the Congress's Vinesh Phogat and the BJP's Yogesh Bairagi.

After releasing the names of 21 candidates in the afternoon, the party came out with another list in the evening containing the names of nine more nominees for the October 5 election.

Dalal (37), a former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) participant and also known as "Lady Khali", has been fielded to take on Phogat, an Olympian.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Bairagi, a former commercial pilot, against Phogat in the Jat-dominated Julana Assembly segment.

Though Phogat hails from Balali in Charkhi Dadri district, her in-laws' hometown is Julana. Bakhta Khera village in Julana is the native village of her husband, Somvir Rathee.

Dalal hails from Jind district.

Before foraying into politics, Phogat (30) retired from wrestling following a shock end to her Paris Olympic campaign. She was the first Indian woman grappler to reach the Olympic final but was disqualified after being found overweight by about 100 grams in her 50-kg category weigh-in.

Meanwhile, Joga Singh has been pitted against Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini from Ladwa while Nisha Deshwal will contest the election from Safidon.

Sham Mehta is the AAP candidate from Sirsa while Nishant Anand is in the fray from Gurugram.

Raj Kaur Gill has been fielded by the AAP from the Ambala Cantonment seat while Sunil Bindal will contest the polls from Karnal.

Among the other candidates, Anil Ranga has been fielded from Narwana, Daljeet Singh from Tosham, Wasim Jaffar from Ferozepur Jhirkha and M L Gautam from Hodal.

The AAP's first list of 20 candidates for the Haryana polls was released on Monday as the party's seat-sharing talks with the Congress broke down.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has so far declared 70 candidates for the polls.

The last date for filing nominations is September 12. The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5.

The Congress and the AAP contested the Lok Sabha polls, held earlier this year, together in Delhi while they fought the election separately in Punjab.

The Congress had given one seat to the AAP in the general election in Haryana, which it had contested unsuccessfully.

In the 2019 Haryana Assembly polls, the AAP had contested 46 seats but failed to win a single one.