Panaji:The Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed the Election Commission of India's notification for the byelection to Ponda assembly seat in Goa a day ahead of polling, citing violation of the Representation of the People Act as the legislature's term is set to expire in less than a year. Thursday's election was thus cancelled even though postal ballots had already been cast, as the high court also refused to stay its judgement. While the ruling BJP termed the decision as shocking, the Congress accused it of conniving with the ECI to get the election cancelled by delaying the notification, and said it would file an appeal in the Supreme Court. A division bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit S Jamsandekar of the Goa bench of the High Court declared the March 16, 2026 notification "arbitrary".