SC to hear Goa Congress leader’s petition against defection of MLAs to BJP

POLITY – ELECTIONS

24 JULY 2026

• The Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea challenging a decision of the Goa Assembly Speaker rejecting a petition by the Congress for disqualification of eight of its MLAs who defected to the ruling BJP in 2022.
• A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana admitted the appeal filed by Congress leader Girish Chodankar over the defection of the eight MLAs.
• At the outset, the counsel for the Congress leader said that 11 MLAs, who were elected on the party’s symbol, went away and merged with BJP.
• Mr. Rohatgi said the matter needed urgent hearing as the term of this Assembly will also get over.
• Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that according to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, if two-thirds of the legislature party merged with another party then it amounted to merger of political parties also.
• The eight MLAs form two-thirds of the Congress legislative wing, which meets a provision in the anti-defection law that allows a split in such cases without the members needing to resign and contest elections.
• The defections took the NDA’s majority of 25 (20 BJP MLAs, MGP 2, Independents 3) in the Goa Assembly to 33.
• The Congress was left with three MLAs and the Goa Forward Party has one. There are two AAP MLAs and one from the Revolutionary Goans Party in the Assembly.
• The Congress MLAs’ move to join the BJP had come at a time when Rahul Gandhi was leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
• Earlier in December 2024, the top court had refused to entertain the plea against the Speaker’s decision rejecting a disqualification petition of the Congress against the defection.
• Observing it will not “become the court of first appeal”, the Bench had asked Mr. Chodankar to move the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court and challenge the Speaker’s decision.