Bombay high court scraps Ponda bypoll in Goa hours before voting

THe Bombay heights margaret court at Goa on midweek cancelled the notice to bear the Ponda assembly bypoll on April 9 morning on a petition challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) move to hold the poll when the current assembly has less than a year left in its term.The term of the current Goa assembly ends on March 14, 2027. The ECI had notified voting for April 9, and counting on May 4.“Considering that the remainder of the period left for the person who might have been elected in the bye-elections to the 21-Ponda constituency, to represent the constituency in the Assembly is less than one year, the said notification is therefore arbitrary, and issued contrary to Clause (a) of proviso to Section 151-A of the Representation of the People’s Act. Consequently, we quash and set aside the impugned Notification dated 16.03.2026,” a bench of justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar of the high court’s Goa bench said in its order on a petition by two voters who cited Section 151A of the Representation of People’s Act.According to Section 151A, the provisions requiring the Election Commission to hold elections to fill vacancies in a state assembly do not apply when “the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year”.Lawyer Rama Rivankar, who appeared for the Election Commission of India , said the high court allowed the petition and cancelled the notification declaring the by-election. “The election has been cancelled. We had asked for a stay of the impugned order for a period of two weeks, which was also rejected by the High Court,” he said.“We had argued that the duration should be counted from the date of the vacancy. But they have not considered that. What they (the high court) have said is that there needs to be at least one year from the day of counting of the votes,” Rivankar added.The by-election was held following the death of former Goa chief minister Ravi Naik in October last year.The Congress said the cancellation of the election at the eleventh hour was a ‘dark day for democracy and wondered why the Election Commission waited for months to notify the elections.“The Congress was winning the election. And the BJP is utilising the entire machinery to have the election cancelled. The ECI is a puppet of the BJP. Ravi Naik passed away in October last year. Five months the Election Commission squandered. Why was this? This is clearly the handiwork of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of India,” state Congress president Amit Patkar said.“They realised that the BJP was losing this election. That would set the narrative ahead of the general assembly elections next year. This is a nexus between the BJP and the ECI. We were sure the candidate was winning. This is setting a wrong precedent for Goa’s politics. The nexus has been exposed,” he also said.Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Siddharth Kuncalienkar said his party too was ‘shocked’ by the verdict.“The verdict is shocking. I was always under the impression that the moment an election is declared, courts generally do not interfere with the process. Unfortunately, as a party, we do not have the power to file an appeal; it is for the Election Commission of India to decide,” Kuncalienkar said.Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said his teams remained on the ground and were awaiting further instructions from the poll panel. “Our teams are on the ground and we have not recalled them. We have informed the Election Commission about the developments and are awaiting their decision,” Goel said.The BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had fielded candidates for the election, with the BJP nominating Ravi Naik’s son Ritesh Naik.