Vinesh Phogat is now an MLA, having been elected to the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday. She was elected from the Julana assembly constituency, which she contested as a candidate of the Congress party, by a margin of more than with 6,000 votes. After her win, Vinesh said: : "This is the fight of every girl, every woman who chooses the path to fight. This is the victory of every struggle, of truth. I will maintain the love and trust that this country has given me.
"This was a people's battle, and they've won and I was just a face. I am thankful to all the love and respect that I've received."
She defeated, among others, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Captain Yogesh Bairagi, a former Army officer, the incumbent MLA and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) candidate Amarjeet Dhanda, and also former professional wrestler Kavita Dalal from the Aam Aadmi Party.
This was the Congress's first win in Julana since 2005; the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had won this seat from 2009 to 2019. Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia, who with Vinesh spearheaded the protest against former wrestling federation chief and ex-BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was among the first to congratulate her. "Many congratulations to the country's daughter Vinesh Phogat for her victory. This fight was not just for one Julana seat, it was not just with 3-4 other candidates, it was not just a fight between parties. This fight was against the strongest oppressive forces in the country. And Vinesh emerged victorious," he wrote on X.
Before the election result, Vinesh said she and her political party will fight for the rights of women and will focus on curbing unemployment in the state. Vinesh, who won multiple gold medals for India at the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, quit wrestling after her disqualification from the Paris Olympics for weighing 100 grams over the permissible limit on the morning of her gold medal bout.
The case went to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), who later dismissed the appeal for a joint-silver medal for Vinesh. The CAS stated that despite the consequences of a failed second weigh-in was draconian, it was on athletes to ensure that they are within the permissible weight limits for their respective events.
Before the Olympics, Vinesh, along with Sakshi Malik and Bajrang, spearheaded the protests against Brij Bhushan, which ultimately led to the filing of sexual harassment charges on the former federation chief.