Panaji : Three-time Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monserrate has become the second legislator to die in office during the current term of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Former Chief Minister Ravi Naik, who represented the Ponda constituency, died on October 15, 2025, following cardiac failure. He was 79.
With Monserrate’s death, the strength of the House has fallen to 38.
After a delay, the bypoll to elect a replacement for Naik was scheduled for April 9. However, on April 8, the election was cancelled following a High Court order. The ruling was delivered on a petition alleging violation of Section 151-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which exempts the Election Commission from conducting a bypoll if the vacancy occurs less than a year before the dissolution of the Assembly.
Currently, the Ponda constituency does not have an MLA. The term of the present Assembly ends in March 2027.
During the previous Assembly term (2017-22), then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his deputy, Francis D’Souza, died in office in 2019.
Five-time Mapusa MLA D’Souza died on February 14 at the age of 64. Parrikar died after a prolonged illness on March 17 at the age of 63. D’Souza’s son Joshua won the by-election, becoming the youngest MLA at the time, while Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate was elected on a Congress ticket from the Panaji seat.
During the previous term, Tourism Minister and social activist Matanhy Saldanha (BJP) died in office on March 21, 2012, within a month of being elected as MLA from Cortalim. His wife, teacher Alina Saldanha, was elected unopposed on May 21, 2012, in the bypoll held for the Cortalim constituency. She served as Minister for Environment and Forest in the cabinets of Parrikar and subsequently Laxmikant Parsekar.
During the 2007-12 Assembly term, when the Congress was in power in the state, Congress MLA from Sankhalim Gurudas Gauns died in office on May 8, 2008, following a brief illness. He was succeeded by his brother Pratap Gauns who defeated Pramod Sawant (BJP) in the bypolls that followed.
