The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday dismissed two writ petitions chal lenging the notification issued on November 6 on reservation of seats for the upcoming Zil la Parishad (ZP) elec tions, clearing the legal hurdle and decks for the elections sched uled for December 20. The elections are now likely to proceed as planned. The Goa State Election Commission (SEC) is ex pected to announce the election schedule and enforce the Model Code of Conduct by the end of this month or early next month, depending on its discretion. Former Curtorim ZP Member Moreno Rebe lo and Manuel Borges had filed separate writ petitions challenging the November 6, 2025 notification determin ing reservation of seats in the Curtorim and Nuvem constituencies in the South Goa Zilla Panchayat (ZP).
Borges had challenged the November 6 notification stating that it was in violation of the required conditions known as the ‘triple test’ laid down by the Supreme Court in various judgments. He stated that he wrote a letter dat ed 10.11.2025 to the SEC requesting the details whether the triple test was complied with but till the filing of the writ petition, he had not received any response to his letter. Therefore, he approached the High Court challenging the said notification. Rebelo had also challenged the November 6 notification reserving Curtorim ZP constituency for candidates belong ing to OBC communities. The High Court on Tuesday had reserved the order after completing the hearings even as the SEC in its affidavit had stated that the next ZP elections had to be conducted be fore the present term of the present body ends on January 7, 2026. While disposing of the two petitions, the High Court ac cepted the recommendation made by the Goa State Com mission for OBC and that six seats were reserved for OBC candidates including two women of OBC community for South Goa ZP.. The Court was also satisfied with the triple test conduct ed by the dedicated State Commission for Backward Class es which relied on their data collected through the ongoing process. Though this exercise was done within a short pe riod, as rightly submitted by the Advocate General, the data was readily available with the Commission. The data was analysed and recommendations were made. There cannot be a specific challenge to the figures mentioned in the re port and in any case, it would be beyond the scope of the writ jurisdiction of this Court. Commenting on the High Court decision, the petitioner Moreno Rebelo said, “Based on arguments, the case was on our side. As per the Supreme Court guidelines the SEC has to appoint a dedicated OBC Commission. This Commission had to go and find out. The OBC Commission was appoint ed on October 30 and next day it was asked to submit a report. October 31 was Friday and on November 3, a report was given. When did the OBC Commission conduct a study and gave its recommendations? Even the High Court asked the Commission about it and the Commission had no reply. But the AG said that the Commission worked on Saturday and Sunday since the matter was urgent. But we have not given up and you will know our future plan of action.” TMC national spokesman TrajanoD’Mello said, “The is sues raised in writ petitions were that no proper reserva tion of seats to women candidates in the South Goa ZP, no triple test conducted and the reservation of seats for SC candidates in South Goa ZP. But the State Election Com mission issued a corrigendum and reserved Raia ZP seat for ST women. The Commission told the High Court that it followed the triple test and further explained the SC popu lation in the South Goa district ZP, which satisfied the High Court. So it was clear that the High Court will dispose of writ petitions and accordingly, disposed them. Now with the election date already declared the decks are cleared for ZP polls and the State Election Commission should not de lay in announcing the poll schedule. Former North Goa ZP adhyaksha and current member Siddesh Naik said, “The two writ petitions did not stand in the High Court and were disposed of. It was a waste of time. I feel now that everything is clear and the State Elec tion Commission should declare the poll schedule for De cember 20 polling. Any further delay will halt the district administration as the tenure of the present ZP body ends on January 7, 2026.” Congress Seva Dal convenor RajanGhate said, “With the High Court disposing of writ petitions, the State Election Commission should go ahead and issue a notification of the election schedule starting with the process of filing nomi nation papers. It was because of Congress leader that the Commission rectified its mistake and issued a corrigen dum reserving a second seat for ST women in South Goa ZP. The elections should not be postponed beyond December 20 because of the ensuing festive season such as Christmas and New Year celebrations.”
