Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: A day after the death of Goa Congress leader Ketan Bhatikar following a snakebite incident, the Supreme Court on Friday closed the proceedings on his plea challenging the cancellation of the Ponda Assembly by-election.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta abated the proceedings after being informed that Bhatikar had died on Thursday night after allegedly being bitten by a snake while travelling towards Dandeli village in Karnataka.
Bhatikar, 38, was the Congress candidate for the Ponda Assembly constituency and had approached the apex court against the Bombay High Court’s order quashing the bypoll.
During the hearing, advocate Abhishek Jebraj, appearing on behalf of the deceased leader, requested the court to leave the larger question of law open while closing the proceedings. The bench recorded the submissions of both sides before disposing of the plea.
The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had on April 8 quashed the Election Commission of India’s notification for the Ponda by-election, which was scheduled for April 9.
The bypoll had been necessitated following the death of sitting BJP MLA Ravi Naik on October 15 last year.
The High Court had ruled that the by-election notification violated provisions of the Representation of the People Act as less than one year remained for the term of the current Goa Legislative Assembly, which is set to expire on March 14, 2027.
The petition before the High Court was filed by two registered voters from the constituency, who argued that the winning candidate would have served only around nine months as MLA since the election result was scheduled to be declared on May 4.
