NEW DELHI
A day after Goa Congress leader Ketan Bhatikar died after being bitten by a snake, the Supreme Court on Friday closed his plea challenging the Bombay High Court order to cancel the Ponda assembly bypoll.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta abated the proceeding on his plea after it was informed of Bhatikar's death on Thursday night due to a snakebite.
Bhatikar (38) died when he was on his way to Dandeli village in Karnataka.
Advocate Abhishek Jebraj, appearing for the deceased leader, requested that the bench leave the larger question of law open, and close the proceedings. The bench recorded the submissions of both sides and closed the proceedings on the plea.
Bhatikar, who was the opposition Congress party's candidate for the Ponda assembly seat, had filed a plea challenging the Bombay High Court's order which cancelled the bypoll on April 8.
The bypoll, necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MLA Ravi Naik on October 15 last year was to take place on April 9. The high court's Goa bench on April 8 had quashed the Election Commission of India's notification for the by-election, citing violation of the Representation of the People Act, as the legislature's term is set to expire in less than a year.
Two registered voters in the constituency had moved the high court challenging the validity of the notification on the ground that less than one year of the current Goa legislative assembly's term was left. The term will expire on March 14, 2027. The high court had agreed with the contention, noting that as the result would have been declared on May 4, the winning candidate would have got only about nine months as an MLA.
