Panaji, April 8 The Bombay High Court on Wednesday declared the Election Commission of India's notification for the Ponda Assembly by-election as "null and void," effectively cancelling the April 9 poll. The Congress said it would challenge this decision in the Supreme Court.
Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar of the Goa bench of the HC passed the order in response to petitions filed by two voters who had challenged the validity of the notification, arguing that less than one year remained in the current assembly's term.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of former Goa minister Ravi Naik in October last year. The ECI had announced polling on April 9 and counting on May 4.
The petitioners argued that under the Representation of the People Act, a by-election is not mandatory if the remaining term of the Assembly is less than one year. They pointed out that the new MLA would only serve for a few months.
Speaking at a press conference here, Congress Central Working Committee member Girish Chodankar said the party would file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the HC order.
"We wanted to challenge the order immediately, but the detailed order has not yet been uploaded by the High Court (on its website)," he said.
The ruling BJP, fearing defeat, colluded with the ECI to cancel the by-election, Chodankar alleged. The poll body announced the by-election late, five months after Naik's death, he pointed out.
Both the petitioners before the HC were supporters of the BJP, which had sensed that it would lose the election, Chodankar claimed.
"The BJP changed the game when they knew that they couldn't win," he said.