Panaji Mar 30 PTI The first session of the Goa Assembly following the last months elections ended on Wednesday without a confidence vote being heldThe BJP government led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is in a comfortable position in the 40-member House as the party won 20 seats and enjoys the support of three Independents and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party which has two MLAsA motion of confidence in favour of chief minister Sawant was listed on the second and last days agenda released by the legislature departmentBut a revised agenda issued in the morning omitted the motion The governor has not asked the chief minister to prove majority on the floor of the House So there was no need to hold the motion a senior official of the legislature department told PTI The financial appropriation bill presented by Sawant was passed with voice vote During the election for Deputy Speaker held earlier in the day BJP MLA Subhash Faldesai won by getting 24 votes Fifteen legislators voted against him PTI RPS KRK KRK

Panaji Mar 23 PTI The TMCs Goa unit on Wednesday refused to comment on its pre-poll alliance partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party extending support to the BJP to form the next government in Goa Before elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly were held last month the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress TMC had forged an alliance with the MGP the states oldest regional outfit currently led by Deepak Dhavalikar The MGP bagged two seats in the elections while the new entrant TMC could not win any seat Later the MGP extended support to the BJP which won 20 seats just one short of the majority mark in the House Talking to PTI on Wednesday TMCs Goa president Kiran Kandolkar said We have nothing to say about the MGP supporting BJP We had a pre-poll alliance with the MGP which does not continue at present because we have not won any seat We have no role to play in the next Goa government The MGP decided whatever it had to he said Kandolkar said the TMC is focusing on its future plans in Goa for which a special meeting is scheduled in the state capital Panaji on March 26 TMC leaders including Abhishek Banerjee and Sushmita Dev would be participating in the meeting he added PTI RPS GK GK

Panaji Mar 18 PTI Congress on Friday said it was ready to consider all possible alternatives to keep the BJP away from power in GoaThe BJP which won 20 out of 40 seats in the last months Goa Assembly elections and has secured support of the two Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLAs and three Independents has yet to stake a claim to form new government Senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat told reporters here that the failure to stake claim indicated that everything is not well within BJPCongress won 11 seats in the elections The results were announced on March 10 Congress party is open to all options to ensure that a non-BJP government is formed in Goa which will actually uphold the verdict of assembly polls Kamat saidThe BJP could win 20 seats one short of the majority figure only because votes got split he claimedThe mandate was clearly against the ruling dispensation which is visible from the 3331 per cent vote share of BJP which makes it clear that 6669 per cent voters did not want BJP Kamat addedEven after a week after results the BJP has failed to form government BJP leadership is just buying time giving one excuse or other he saidGovernance has come to a halt after Code of Conduct was announced in January he saidNo major works have been taken up in the last two months The monsoon is fast approaching and a lot of preparation is pending the former chief minister said Several MLAs have approached Congress urging us to take lead in the formation of government We appeal to all non-BJP MLAs to use their wisdom and take steps to ensure that people of Goa get a full-fledged non-BJP government he said PTI RPS KRK KRK

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Amid ongoing counting of votes, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said that he cannot predict whether Pramod Sawant will become the next chief minister of the coastal state and called it a "sensitive question".

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Amid ongoing counting of votes, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has won the Assembly elections by a majority.

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Former Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who contested the Assembly election from Mandrem seat as an Independent candidate, on Thursday said he is equidistant from both Congress and BJP, amid predictions of having a hung assembly in the state.

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday morning reached a counting centre in Panaji on Thursday morning as counting of votes began for the recently held Assembly Elections in the coastal state.

Panaji (Goa) [India], March 10 (ANI): Counting of votes to the Goa assembly elections began on Thursday to decide the fate of the 301 candidates from 40 Assembly seats.

Panaji Feb 24 PTI Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday welcomed the Bombay High Courts order dismissing two petitions seeking disqualification of 12 MLAs who switched over from their parties to the BJP saying democracy and constitutional mandate has prevailed over the smear campaign However Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar claimed this will encourage the BJP-led central governments politics to change the mandate of people with the use of money The Goa bench of the HC upheld state Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekars order of last year dismissing two petitions seeking disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling BJP in 2019 Chodankar had filed one of the disqualification petitions against 10 party MLAs who switched over to the BJP in July 2019 The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party had filed the other plea against its two MLAs who joined the BJP in the same year by splitting the regional outfit The HC on Thursday said the petitioners have not been able to make out a case for interference in the impugned orders passed by the Speaker The court also said that the order passed by the Speaker rejecting the disqualification petitions cannot be said to be militating against the object of introduction of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution on the touchstone of political and constitutional morality Reacting to the judgement Sawant in a tweet said I welcome the decision of Hon High Court in dismissing the appeal filed by Congress and MGP against merger of 12 MLAs into the BJP Legislature Party Democracy and constitutional mandate has prevailed over the smear campaign However Chodankar said the order was unexpected and he will challenge it in the Supreme Court because the very existence of political parties is in question He claimed the order has given power to MLAs to change the public mandate The order will encourage politics of the Narendra Modi government at the Centrewith the use of money they can change the mandate of the people the Congress leader told reporters outside the court building The order is against the democratic values It is going to set a bad precedent not only for the Congress but all political parties in the country as after an election a few MLAs can come together and take a decision to join another party he claimed The very spirit of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution has been destroyed by this order The purpose of the Tenth Schedule is to prevent defection and horse trading It is necessary that this order needs to be challenged he said Advocate Abhijit Gosawi representing Chodankar said the order is going to question the role of political parties in the democratic process It will happen that two-third of the members will take a certain decision and the political party will have no say in the process he added PTI RPS GK GK

Panaji Feb 24 PTI The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the Goa Assembly Speakers order dismissing two petitions seeking disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling BJP in 2019 Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar had filed a disqualification petition against 10 party MLAs who switched over to the BJP in July 2019 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar had also filed a similar petition before the court against its two MLAs who joined the BJP in the same year by splitting the regional party Goa Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar had on April 20 last year dismissed the disqualification petitions filed by Chodankar and Dhavalikar On Thursday a division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and R N Laddha said the two petitions stand dismissed The petitioners have not been able to make out a case for interference in the impugned orders passed by the Speaker the HC said We hold the disqualification petitions filed by the petitioners were correctly dismissed by the Speaker the bench said The court also said that the order passed by the Speaker rejecting the disqualification petitions cannot be said to be militating against the object of introduction of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution on the touchstone of political and constitutional morality Chodankar had in his petition filed before the Speaker pleaded that all the 10 MLAs deserved to be declared as disqualified from holding membership of their original party the Indian National Congress thereby attracting disuqualification under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution The MGP too had filed the petition on the same ground Senior lawyer Vivek Tankha appearing on behalf of Chodankar had pleaded before the HC that the Speaker erred in interpreting paragraph four of the Constitutions Tenth Schedule He had argued that the Schedule contemplates twin test for arriving at a conclusion regarding merger of the original political party According to Tanka such a merger would be complete and protect a House member from being disqualified when there was a merger of the original political party and two-third members of the legislature party agreed with such a merger He argued that the twin test is contemplated in the Tenth Schedule to ensure that objects and reasons for introducing the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution by the 52th Amendemnt to the Constitution in 1985 were achieved In the 2017 polls to the 40-member Goa Assembly the Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats while the BJP had bagged 13 seats The BJP then quickly forged an alliance with some regional outfits and independents to form government in the state Over the last five years a number of Congress MLAs quit the party reducing its strength in the House to two Polls to elect the new 40-member Goa Assembly were held on February 14 this year and the counting was votes will be done on March 10 PTI RPS GK GK