Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia resignations accepted by Railways

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has accepted the resignations of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia and both the players expected to be relieved "as early as possible."

"The provision of serving a three-month notice period after resigning by a railway employee will not come in the way of relieving these two players as we have decided to relax the norm in their cases," a senior railway official said here.

Railways sources said both the players "will be relieved possibly today or as early as possible."

Earlier the Northern Railway (NR), where both the wrestlers working, had earlier issued show cause notices to them after they met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to join his party.

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

Both Punia and Phogat recently joined the Congress and the latter has been given a ticket to contest election from Julana assembly constituency in Haryana.

Now, since Railways has initiated her resignation acceptance process, there is no hurdle in her contesting election, a Northern Railway official said.

Earlier there was speculation that Phogat might not be able to contest elections in view of the three-month notice period norm.

According to election rules, she needs to get officially relieved from the Railways to be eligible to contest election.