Congress would’ve sent Vinesh to Rajya Sabha from Haryana if it had numbers: Hooda

Election Commission had on August 7 announced the schedule for holding the bypoll to fill a Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said that the Congress would have sent Olympian Vinesh Phogat to Rajya Sabha if they had the numbers in the state.

Vinesh Phogat of India after winning the match against Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba in the Women’s Freestyle 50kg semifinal at Champ-de-Mars Arena during the Paris Olympics on August 6. (Reuters)

The Election Commission had on August 7 announced the schedule for holding the bypoll to fill a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

The seat fell vacant after incumbent Deepender Singh Hooda got elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak constituency.

The term of this Upper House seat ends April 9, 2026.

Hooda had on Wednesday reiterated that the party would not field a candidate for the Upper House byelection. “Since the Congress does not have the numbers in the House, it will not field a candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll. However, if a group of 16-17 MLAs field a candidate against the BJP, we will lend support to them,’’ Hooda had said.

Reacting to the announcement by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini that Vinesh would be rewarded as every silver medallist is, the Congress leader said that the Haryana government should treat her as a gold medal winner. “The government should also intervene to find out how she got disqualified. It’s quite rare,” Hooda added.