Who is ‘Lady Khali’ Kavita Dalal, the AAP candidate challenging Vinesh Phogat in Haryana's poll dangal

The AAP has fielded Kavita Dalal from the Julana Assembly constituency against ace India wrestler Vinesh Phogat of the Congress and other opponents.

Who is Kavita Dalal, ‘Lady Khali’ against Vinesh Phogat in Haryana's Julana 

The entry of Olympic finalist Vinesh Phogat in the Haryana Assembly elections fray on a Congress ticket turned Julana into one of the most keenly watched contests in the polls. If Phogat's entry hadn't created enough drama already, the Aam Aadmi Party just took it a notch up.

With the alliance talks with the Congress all but failed, the AAP on Wednesday fielded Kavita Dalal from the Julana Assembly constituency against ace India wrestler Vinesh of the Congress and Captain Yogesh Bairagi, a former commercial pilot, of the BJP.

The first Indian woman to have signed up with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2017, Kavita Dalal serves as the head of the AAP”s state sports wing. She joined the party in 2022.

Who is Kavita Dalal?

Popularly known as ‘Lady Khali, Kavita was born in a farmer’s family in the Malvi village of Julana constituency. The fourth among five siblings, she took to weightlifting early and won a gold medal in weightlifting at the 12th South Asian Games in 2016.

Asked about the contest with Vinesh Phogat, the weightlifter-turned-wrestler-turned politician says she holds her opponent in high regard. “Now, she is a political candidate in the Assembly polls. My fight will not be against Vinesh but against the difficulties people are facing in the Julana constituency,” she told The Indian Express.

By 2008, she was winning medals in the 75-kg category, although her attempts to qualify for the Olympics failed. In 2009, Kavita, who is 37 years old now, got married to Gaurav Tomar, a volleyball player from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, who currently serves in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

Kavita wanted to quit sports after giving birth to a child a year after marriage but her husband persuaded her to continue. It was in 2012 then that she started training at the Jalandhar academy of former WWE star Dalip Singh Rana, popularly known as The Great Khali.

A turn of fortune

Following her weightlifting gold in the 75-kg category at the South Asian Games in 2016, Kavita appeared for trials at Khali’s academy before competing in the WWE tryouts in Dubai in April 2017. Some months later, she competed in the Mae Young Classic in Orlando, USA.

It was the same year, when Kavita got the WWE contract and later competed in WrestleMania and WWE Evolution. The first Indian to sign up with the WWE, Kavita grabbed headlines for wrestling in a salwar kurti.

Four-cornered battle in Julana

Kavita’s entry into the poll fray has turned the Julana Assembly election into a four-cornered contest. The Congress has already fielded Phogat while the BJP has given a ticket to Captain Yogesh Bairagi.

The JJP of Dushyant Chautala, on the other hand, has chosen to retain sitting MLA Amarjit Singh Dhanda as its candidate from Julana. While Dhanda hails from the Khatri community, both Kavita and Vinesh will be vying for Jat votes in this election.

Polling in all 90 seats of Harayana will take place on October 5 while the results will be declared on October 8.