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IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA
VALMIKI MENEZES, AMIT S.JAMSANDEKAR
Pritam Harmalkar, son of Permanand Harmalkar – Appellant
Versus
Election Commission of India, Through Secretary – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
Valmiki Menezes, J.
1. Registry to waive office objections and register the matters.
2. Heard Mr. Akshay Naik, learned Senior Advocate with Mr.Chaitanya Padgaonkar, learned Advocate for the Petitioner in Writ Petition No.235 of 2026, Mr. Nitin Sardessai, Senior Advocate along with Mr. Terence Sequeira, Learned Advocate for the Petitioner in Writ Petition No.237 of 2026, Mr. S. R. Rivankar, Learned Senior Advocate with Mr. Rama Rivankar, Learned Advocate for Respondents No.1 and 3, Senior Advocate Shri. Devidas Pangam, Advocate General for the State of Goa along with Mr. Deep D. Shirodkar, Learned Additional Government Advocate for Respondent No.3 and Advocate Abhijit Gosavi, for the Intervenor.
3. These two petitions impugn Notice dated 15.03.2026 and Notification dated 16.03.2026 of the Election Commission of India (Respondent No.1) declaring bye-elections to the 21- Ponda Constituency, of the Goa Legislative Assembly, to take place on 09.04.2026. Since the grounds of challenge in these Petitions are common, they have been heard and are being disposed of by a common judgement.
4. In both Petitions, the undisputed facts are the following:
The elections to the Legislative Asse
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