Railways accepts Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia's resignation with immediate effect

New Delhi: The Railways on Monday accepted the resignations of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, officials said.

In separate notices issued on Monday, the Northern Railway said their resignations tendered on September 6 were "accepted by the competent authority with immediate effect." Both Punia and Phogat joined the Congress recently. Phogat has been given a party ticket to contest the Haryana assembly polls from the Julana constituency.

The Northern Railway relaxed the provision of three-month notice period in their cases. Speculations were rife that Phogat might not be able to contest the elections in view of the notice period norm.

According to election rules, she needed to get officially relieved from the Railways to be eligible to contest the October 5 polls.

Now, since the Railways has relieved the two Olympians from their service, Phogat can contest the elections.

The NR had earlier issued show cause notices to them after they met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi before joining his party.

It had said the show cause notice was part of the service norm as they were government employees. Following the notices, both resigned from the Railways.