Olympian Krishna Poonia wins assembly seat in Rajasthan
My priorities will be to provide good education to students and a crime-free environment for everyone in my constituency.
KRISHNA POONIA , winning candidate from Sadulpur assembly seat of Rajasthan
AMBALA: Discus thrower Krishna Poonia, who became the first Indian woman athlete to clinch gold in Commonwealth Games, on Tuesday made her mark in the arena of politics by winning the Sadulpur assembly constituency in Churu district of Rajasthan.
Poonia, a Congress candidate, defeated Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee and sitting MLA Manoj Kumar by a margin of 18,084 votes. BJP’s Ram Singh, a four-time Churu MP and two-time Sadulpur MLA, was reduced to the third position in the triangular contest.
Poonia polled 70,020 votes, Manoj Kumar 51,936 votes and Ram Singh 50,492.
After winning her seat, Poonia thanked the voters of the constituency to have given her a “chance to serve them.” She was accompanied by her supporters from the constituency as well as those from Haryana.
‘WILL SET UP STADIUM IN CONSTITUENCY’
She said she will set up an international-level stadium at Sadulpur and a college for girls.“I will create a conducive environment for the athletes to enable them touch new heights,” she said.
“My other priorities will be to provide good education to students and a crime-free environment for everyone in my constituency. We will also work on women’s safety and eradicate sewage problem,” she added.
Born in Agroha town of Hisar district, Poonia got married to her coach Virendra Poonia, who hails from Gagarwas, a village of known for players and jawans, under the Sadulpur constituency, a rural seat of the desert seat.
Talking to Hindustan times, Virendra Poonia said, “It was a tough election. BJP leader Ram Singh has a stronghold in the area, but the people of Rajasthan had decided to throw the BJP out of the power.
Last time, Krishna had lost the elections.”
As the constituency is situated on the Haryana-Rajasthan border, a large number of people from Haryana campaigned for her.