High Court quashes Election Commission notification for conducting Ponda Assembly bypoll in Goa

In an order Wednesday, a Division Bench of Justices Amit S Jamsandekar and Valmiki Menezes said: “Considering that the remainder of the period left for the person who might have been elected in the by-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”.

Pritam Harmalkar and Ankita Kamat, both residents of Ponda, had filed petitions, arguing that the notification issued is contrary to the provisions of clause (a) of proviso to Section 151-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RP Act) “since the term of the MLA for the constituency, who would be elected, would be of less than one year, even if counted from the date of the election result”.

While Section 151A mandates that a by-election to fill a vacancy in Parliament or a state legislature should be held within six months, the clause says that this requirement does not apply “if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year”.

The petitioners submitted that the ECI failed to consider that the remainder of the term of the incoming member in relation to the remainder of the term of member whose seat fell vacant due to his death, was less than one year. The petitioners argued that the incoming member would hardly get a tenure of about ten months as a member of the Legislative Assembly as the term of the Assembly expires on March 14, 2027.

“Applying the interpretation that this Court has arrived at on the provisions of clause (a) of proviso to Section 151-A in Sandeep Yashwantrao Sarode (supra), and considering that the date on which the result of the upcoming election would be announced on 04.05.2026, we observe that the remainder of the period reckoned from this date till 14.03.2027 (when the term of the Assembly expires) is just about nine months. The impugned notification dated 16.03.2026 is therefore issued in contravention of the bar under Clause (a) of proviso to Section 151-A,” the Court said.

Sanjay Goel, chief electoral officer, Goa told the media that the election machinery is in place for the conduct of the by-election and is awaiting further instructions from the ECI.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the High Court verdict on the Ponda Assembly bypoll was “shocking”. “The decision is shocking. We are in touch with our central party leadership on the issue,” Sawant told the media. He added that the BJP “accepts” the verdict given by the High Court and is waiting for a formal notification from the ECI.

Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar said cancellation of the by-election was a “dark day for democracy” and alleged a nexus between the BJP and ECI. “When the BJP realised that the people of Ponda had made up their mind to vote for change and that the Congress was set to win, they chose to run away from the people instead of facing them. It is no coincidence that the very party fearing defeat is the one that moved the petition for cancellation,” Patkar said.