
The Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in Goa comprising of Justice Manish Pitale and Justice R.N Laddha dismissed the disqualification petition against the 10 Congress MLAs and two MGP MLAs who defected to join the BJP in 2019. They upheld the then Speaker decision to dismiss the petition. Advocate Abhijeet Gosavi stated that the ruling questioned the existence of the political parties and they would challenge the order in the Supreme Court. Goa Pradesh President Girish Chodankar spoke of the unexpected verdict to the media outside the High Court of Bombay in Porvorim. He said that it will encourage the politics of the Narendra Modi Government where money can change the mandate of the people. It goes against the values of democracy and sets bad precedence where few MLAs can change sides.