Panaji: Supreme Court on Friday disposed of the petition filed by former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar, seeking the disqualification of 10 Congress MLAs who had joined BJP in 2019, which increased the latter’s strength to 27 in the 40-seat House.The court declared the petition as infructuous and said its has no longer has any practical legal effect, in view of another petition filed by Girish seeking to disqualify eight Congress MLAs who merged with the BJP in 2022.“In view of the fact that, during the pendency of this petition, fresh elections in the state legislative assembly took place, the issues raised in the instant petition became largely academic,” the apex court observed.“The petitioner, meanwhile, filed another special leave petition, wherein similar questions were raised. That being so, with the liberty to raise additional points, if any, in the arguments which are under consideration in the subsequent special leave petition, we are of the view that the instant special leave petition deserves to be disposed of as having become infructuous,” the SC said.The court posted the new petition for April 7.
