Olympian Contest: Krishna vs Rajyavardhan from Jaipur Rural

Both Krishna Poonia and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore have represented India at the highest level, winning accolades and making the nation proud. But now, Olympians Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Krishna Poonia are all set to fight in one of the most watched electoral battles from Rajasthan.

On Tuesday evening both were being fielded by their respective parties—BJP and Congress—from the Jaipur Rural parliamentary constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Congress on Monday night fielded MLA from Sadulpur assembly and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Poonia against Union Minister and Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

By fielding Former discus thrower Krishna Poonia,a first time MLA from Sadulpur in Churu parliamentary constituency, the Congress party has paved the way for a unique contest — between two sportstars who have won multiple medals for the country.Olympian shooter-turned-politician, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
and Poonia were part of the Indian contingent at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but the former discus thrower recalls interactions between them to be few and far between. Rathore remains a prominent face from BJP in Rajasthan. Rathore retired from Indian army as a colonel and joined politics in 2013. In 2014 he defeated the then-AICC General Secretary C P Joshi by a huge margin of 3,32,896 votes in Jaipur (Rural) seat.

Rajasthan will go to polls in two phases. In the first phase on April 29, elections will be held on 13 seats. The second phase is on May 6, when the remaining 12 seats will go to polls. In 2014, BJP swept all 25 seats in Rajasthan. However later in 2018 by-polls, the saffron party lost two seats to Congress.