Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Apr 9: In an unprecedented development, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed the bypoll to the Ponda Assembly constituency in Goa, scheduled for Thursday, marking the first time in the state’s history that an election has been halted by a court order.

A division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar rejected the plea of the Election Commission of India to stay the order for two weeks. The commission had argued that the election process was already underway, with 171 voters having cast postal ballots and the entire polling machinery in place.

However, the court held that the EC’s March 16 notification announcing the bypoll was “arbitrary” and in violation of provisions under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It observed that the notification contravened Section 151A(a), which exempts the conduct of by-elections if the remainder of the legislative term is less than one year.

The petitions challenging the bypoll were filed by Ponda voters Pritam Harmalkar and Ankita Kamat, who contended that the elected MLA would serve for less than a year, making the election legally untenable. The court noted that the Assembly term ends on March 14, 2027, and the results of the bypoll were expected on May 4, 2026 — leaving a tenure of only about nine months.

Relying on the precedent set in the Sandeep Yashwantrao Sarode case, the bench ruled that the EC’s decision was not sustainable under the law. It also dismissed the commission’s argument that conflicting judicial interpretations warranted referral to a larger bench, stating that prior rulings on the matter were consistent.