Thu Jan 16 16:17:28 UTC 2025: ## Goa High Court Upholds Speaker’s Decision, Eight Congress MLAs Keep Seats
**PANAJI, INDIA** – The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the decision of Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar to not disqualify eight Congress MLAs who defected to the ruling BJP in September 2022.
The petition, filed by former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar, argued against Speaker Tawadkar’s November 2022 dismissal of the disqualification plea. The High Court, however, upheld the Speaker’s decision, effectively allowing the eight MLAs – Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes, and Rajesh Faldesai – to retain their seats.
The defections in September 2022 boosted the BJP’s strength in the 40-member Goa Assembly to 28. The High Court’s ruling ends Chodankar’s legal challenge to the Speaker’s decision, solidifying the BJP’s majority.
First Piper 