The strength of the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly has dropped to 38 following the death of BJP MLA Jennifer Monserrate, reducing the ruling party’s tally to 26. The development comes months ahead of the state Assembly elections, which are due before March 2027.
Jennifer Monserrate, the three-time MLA from the Taleigao constituency, passed away on Sunday at the age of 56 after a prolonged illness. She had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Panaji. Though a devout Christian, she had expressed a wish to be cremated according to Hindu rituals. Her last rites were scheduled to take place at St Inez in Panaji on Monday.
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Monserrate entered the BJP in July 2019 after switching from the Congress and later served as a minister in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s cabinet. Her death marks the second vacancy in the Assembly after the demise of Ponda MLA Ravi Naik in October last year.
With Monserrate’s passing, the BJP’s strength in the House has come down to 26. However, the ruling party continues to command a comfortable majority with the support of three Independent MLAs and two legislators from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), taking the National Democratic Alliance’s effective strength to 31 in the 38-member House.
The Opposition currently has seven legislators, including three from the Congress, two from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and one each from the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP).
Earlier this year, the Bombay High Court’s Goa bench restrained the Election Commission of India from conducting a by-election in the vacant Ponda constituency, noting that the next Assembly elections are only a few months away. Jennifer Monserrate is survived by her husband, state minister Atanasio Monserrate, and their son Rohit Monserrate, who serves as the Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji.
