Can MLAs Merge With Another Party Without Original Political Party's Consent? Supreme Court To Hear Goa Case In December

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the petition filed by Goa Congress leader Girish Chodankar challenging the judgment of the Bombay High Court (Goa Bench) which approved the defection of 8 Congress MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party as a valid merger.

Granting leave to appeal in Chodankar's Special Leave Petition, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana posted the matter for hearing in December 2026.

The central issue raised in the petition is whether the legislative party (the group of MLAs elected on the party ticket) can claim the defence of merger under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution if their act had no approval of the original political party merely because they constituted 2/3rd of the MLAs.

Explaining the issue before the Court, Advocate Mohammed Ali Khan, for the petitioner, submitted:  "In 2024, elections to the assembly of Goa were held. Goa has 40 MLAs. 11 MLAs were elected from the Congress. 8 of them defected to the rival party and claimed the defence of merger. The single issue is, whether for merger under para 4 of the 10th Schedule, consent of the original political party is required. There are two judgments of the High Courts - one of the Bombay and another of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which say that consent of the original political party is required. Then there is the judgment of the Goa bench."

Jebaraj submitted that the Tenth Schedule clearly drew a distinction between the legislative party and the political party, and the 2023 judgment in the Subhash Desai case settled that a legislative party cannot act independent of the political party.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for the respondents, submitted that paragraph 4 of the 10th schedule clearly stated that defection will be regarded as a merger if it is supported by 2/3rd of the legislative party strength. Since 8 out of the 11 MLAs joined the BJP, the defence of merger was available, he added.

Jebaraj submitted that there was an "extraordinary urgency" in the matter as the same defence was being invoked in respect to recent developments (in a veiled reference to the recent switches from Shiv Sena UBT, Trinamool Congress & Aam Aadmi Party).

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta entered appearance on behalf of the Speaker.

The petition is filed against the Goa Bench's 2025 decision, which upheld the Speaker's decision in rejecting the disqualification petitions filed against the 8 MLAs by invoking the defence of merger. The High Court followed its own 2022 judgment with respect to the switch of 10 Congress MLAs to the BJP in the previous assembly. The Special Leave Petition filed in the Supreme Court against the 2022 judgment was disposed of as infructuous after the term of the previous assembly ended.

Case : Girish Chodankar Vs Speaker, Goa Assembly | SLP(c) 5256/25