The Bombay High Court in Goa on Wednesday quashed the notification to convene the Bonda Assembly by poll on the morning of April 9 on a petition challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) move to hold the poll when the incumbent Assembly has less than a year left in its term.
The term of the current Goa State Assembly ends on March 14, 2027. The Election Commission of India had notified the vote on April 9, and counting will begin on May 4.
“Given that the remaining period of the person who may have been elected in the by-election to 21 Bunda constituency, to represent the constituency in the Assembly is less than one year, the said notification is arbitrary and is being issued in violation of clause (a) of the proviso to Section 151-A of the Representation of People Act. We, therefore, quash and set aside the impugned notification dated ‘16.03.2026’,” a bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar said. A division bench of the Goa High Court in its order on a petition filed by two voters who cited Section 151A of the Representation of People Act.
Pursuant to Section 151A, the provisions requiring the Election Commission to hold elections to fill vacancies in the State Assembly do not apply when “the unexpired term of the member in respect of the vacancy is less than one year.”
Advocate Rama Revankar, who appeared before the Election Commission of India, said the Supreme Court allowed the petition and quashed the notification announcing the by-election. “The elections have been cancelled. We have requested to postpone the impugned order for two weeks, which the Supreme Court also rejected,” he said.
“We argued that the period should be counted from the date of vacancy. But they did not take that into consideration. What (the Supreme Court) said is that there should be at least one year from the day of counting of votes,” Revankar added.
The by-elections were held after the death of former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik in October last year.
The Congress said the cancellation of the elections at the eleventh hour was a “black day for democracy” and questioned why the Election Commission waited months to announce the elections.
“The Congress was the winner of the elections. The BJP is using the entire machinery to annul the elections. The Election Commission of India is a puppet of the BJP. Ravi Naik died in October last year. The Election Commission wasted five months. Why did this happen? This is clearly the work of the BJP and the Election Commission of India,” state Congress president Amit Patekar said.
He also said: “They realized that the BJP was losing this election. This would set the narrative ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. This is a nexus between the BJP and the Election Commission of India. We were sure the candidate would win. This sets a wrong precedent for Goa politics. The nexus has been exposed.”
BJP spokesperson Siddharth Kuncalinkar said his party was also “shocked” by the ruling.
“The ruling is shocking. I was always under the impression that the moment an election is announced, the courts generally do not interfere in the process. Unfortunately, as a party, we do not have the ability to file an appeal; it is the Election Commission of India that decides,” Kuncalinkar said.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said his team was still on the ground and awaiting further instructions from the poll panel. Joel said, “Our teams are on the ground and we did not summon them. We informed the Election Commission of the developments and are awaiting its decision.”
The BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded candidates for the elections, with the BJP nominating Ravi Naik’s son Ritesh Naik.
