Panaji, April 8 Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday described the High Court's order regarding the Ponda assembly by-election as "shocking," after the HC declared the Election Commission of India's poll notification "null and void," effectively cancelling the April 9 contest.
"The court's decision is shocking. We are in contact with our central party leadership," Sawant told reporters.
He said that the BJP accepts the HC's order and is awaiting a formal notification from the ECI. "We have not yet received the notification from the ECI," he added.
Sawant claimed that BJP candidate Ritesh Naik would have won with a margin of 3,500-4,000 votes.
"Although the election has been cancelled, the promises made to the people during the campaign will be fulfilled," he added.
Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar of the Goa bench passed the order on petitions filed by two voters who had challenged the validity of the notification, arguing that less than one year of the current assembly's term remained.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of former Goa minister Ravi Naik in October last year. The ECI had notified polling for April 9 and counting on May 4.
The petitioners argued that under the Representation of the People Act, holding a by-election is not mandatory if the remaining term of the Assembly is less than one year. The new MLA would only serve for a few months, they pointed out.