Counting of votes will be taken up on May 4
Panaji/Ponda/Margao: By-election for the Ponda legislative assembly constituency seat, which fell vacant following the death of sitting BJP MLA and former minister Ravi Naik, will be held on April 9, while counting of the votes will be taken up on May 4.
The Election Commission of India announced the dates for the bypoll and the counting of votes on Sunday along with the schedule for four other assembly constituencies in Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura.
According to the Election Commission, the filing of nominations will commence from March 16 with the issuance of the gazette notification. The last date for filing the nominations will be March 23, while scrutiny of the nominations will be held on March 24. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 26.
It may be noted that Ravi Naik passed away on October 14, 2025, at the age of 70 following a sudden cardiac arrest. Ravi served as the MLA of Ponda constituency for nearly three decades. He was also elected as the Member of Parliament from North Goa constituency in 1998.
Expressing confidence that BJP will retain the Ponda seat, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the central election committee of BJP will soon announce the party candidate for the bypoll.
Sawant also said that announcement of the bypoll schedule will not affect the ongoing session of the state legislative assembly. “Nevertheless, we will seek advice from the Election Commission on the procedural aspects,” he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has sent names of the shortlisted candidates to the party’s central parliamentary board. Speaking to media in Margao, BJP state president Damodar ‘Damu’ Naik said two names have been finalised and added that a decision would be taken soon. “In the next few days, we will be heading to New Delhi. We will finalise the name,” he said.
Damodar Naik further said that there is immense enthusiasm among the party workers and the public. “We have seen success in the Zilla Panchayat elections and at the CCP polls. Now, for the upcoming by-election, BJP has been working hard from day one. Irrespective of whether we win or lose, we are always among the people and that is what gives us our strength,” the state BJP chief said. When asked about the party’s confidence level, the leader responded with a resounding, “100 percent.”
Political observers said it would be interesting to see whether the ruling party will nominate Ravi Naik’s son Ritesh Naik as the candidate or choose some other name from the party cadre.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee is likely to finalise its candidate in the next couple of days, with the state election committee of GPCC likely to take a call at a meeting, which will be chaired by Goa desk in-charge of Congress Manikrao Thakare.
At the 2022 assembly election, the BJP had managed to gain a narrow win for Ravi Naik, who had defeated Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party’s (MGP) Ketan Bhatikar by only 77 votes. Ravi Naik had polled 7,514 votes, while Bhatikar had got 7,437 votes. Rajesh Verenkar of Congress had polled 6,839 votes. Bhatikar is presently with the Congress. It would be interesting to see how the situation evolves and what would be the role of Verenkar if Congress gives ticket to Bhatikar, political observers said.
Soon after the demise of Ravi Naik, Power Minister and senior MGP leader Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar had declared that his party would stand with the BJP. On Bhatikar quitting MGP, Dhavalikar said that every individual had the right to participate in political process.
“As far as the democratic values and alliance commitments are concerned, MGP remains firm in its support to BJP for the Ponda bypoll,” Dhavalikar had said. Dhavalikar had also expressed his wish that Ritesh Naik should lead the campaign.
A total of 4,193 names have been deleted and 362 added in Ponda constituency, taking the electorate from 31,758 to 27,927 as per the final roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
