PANAJI
The Congress party has moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Bombay High Court at Goa that cancelled the Ponda Assembly by-election just hours before polling.
Congress leader Girish Chodankar said the party’s candidate for the by-poll, Dr Ketan Bhatikar, has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court’s April 8 order. The matter is likely to be listed for hearing later this week.
The by-poll, originally scheduled for April 9, was necessitated following the demise of BJP Minister and sitting MLA Ravi Naik in October last year.
Chodankar said the Election Commission’s failure to appeal the order was “a blow to democracy,” adding that the move to approach the Supreme Court aims to restore the people’s right to representation. He further alleged that voters in Ponda were deprived of their right to vote despite all preparations, including campaigning and ballot arrangements, being completed before the abrupt cancellation of the election.
In its April 8 ruling, the High Court’s Goa bench struck down the Election Commission of India (ECI) notification for the by-poll, holding that it violated provisions of the Representation of the People Act as less than one year remained in the current term of the Goa Legislative Assembly, which is due to end on March 14, 2027. The court noted that the elected representative would have served only around nine months.
The petition in the High Court had been filed by two voters from the constituency, who contended that the notification was invalid given the limited remaining tenure of the Assembly. Following the order, the Election Commission declared the ongoing election process “null and void.”
The Commission’s request for a two-week stay on the order to enable it to approach the Supreme Court citing that 177 postal ballots had already been cast was rejected by the High Court.
The Congress has alleged a “conspiracy” involving the State government and the Election Commission to cancel the polls due to fear of defeat, a charge the ruling side has denied while expressing shock over the development.
