Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: In a key political and legal development, the Congress party is set to move the Supreme Court on Friday with a special petition seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court order that quashed the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) notification for the Ponda Assembly bypoll.
The High Court’s Goa bench, comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar, on April 8 declared the ECI notification “null and void,” effectively cancelling the bypoll that was scheduled for April 9, with counting earlier slated for May 4.
The by-election had been necessitated following the death of former Goa minister Ravi Naik in October last year. However, the court’s decision came while hearing petitions filed by two voters who challenged the validity of the notification, arguing that less than one year remains in the current Assembly’s term.
Citing Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, the petitioners contended that conducting a by-election is not mandatory if the remainder of the term is under one year. They argued that any elected MLA would serve only for a short duration, rendering the exercise unnecessary.
Appearing for the ECI, advocate Rama Rivankar stated that the High Court rejected the Commission’s plea for a two-week stay on the order. “The election has been cancelled. We had argued that the duration should be counted from the date of the vacancy, but the court has held that at least one year should remain from the date of counting of votes,” he said.
With Assembly elections in Goa expected in February 2027, the ruling has sparked a major political debate. Congress, in its petition before the Supreme Court, is expected to seek urgent intervention to revive the electoral process, setting the stage for a crucial legal battle over the interpretation of the one-year clause.
