With the death of Goa's former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP MLA Francis D'Souza, the number of assembly seats heading for bypolls in the state has gone up to three.
The tiny state, which has a 40-member House, has already seen two bypolls since the February 2017 assembly elections and three more seats are lying vacant for different reasons.
D'Souza (64), elected from Mapusa in North Goa, died on February 14 after a prolonged illness.
Goa saw two by-elections in Panaji and Valpoi assembly constituencies - in 2017, while bypolls for Shiroda and Mandrem segments, whose sitting MLAs resigned last year, are due before April.
The death of D'Souza has now necessitated a bypoll in Mapusa too even as the Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government is yet to complete two years in office.
"Four by-elections are forced on the state electorate, while one is due to unavoidable circumstances," said Prabhakar Timble, a former State Election Commissioner.
"Five bypolls within two years of formation of government is something happening for the first time in the legislative history of Goa," said Timble, who is also a constitutional expert.
He strongly disapproved of MLAs resigning midway for political gains, saying it makes a "mockery of the democratic system that we follow in India".
The first by-election was necessitated just days after the formation of the BJP-led government in the state.
On March 16, 2017, the then Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane, elected from Valpoi, resigned minutes before the floor test in the assembly and later joined the BJP.
BJP MLA from Panaji Siddharth Kunkolienkar resigned on May 10, 2017 to make way for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to get elected to the assembly.
Parrikar, the then defence minister, was sent to Goa to head the BJP-led government.
The by-elections to Valpoi and Panaji seats were held on August 23, 2017 and results were declared five days later. Rane and Parrikar won from Valpoi and Panaji, respectively.
Post the results, the BJP strength in the assembly increased from from 13 to 14, while that of the Congress reduced from 17 to 16.
On October 16, 2018, two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar (Shiroda) and Dayanand Sopte (Mandrem) - resigned from the assembly and joined the BJP, bringing down the main opposition partys strength in the House to 14 from 16.
As per norms, the by-elections for both the assembly constituencies should be held before April.
The death of DSouza has reduced the BJP's number in the assembly to 13, while the effective strength of the House has come down to 37.
In the current assembly, the Congress has 14 MLAs followed by the BJP (13), the Goa Forward Party, the MGP and Independents (three each) and NCP (1).
The Goa Forward Party, the MGP and Independents are part of the Parrikar government.
"Five by-elections within two years of formation of government may not be a new thing in India where assemblies are big, but it is certainly significant for a (small) state like Goa," said Ramakant Khalap, a Congress leader and former Union Law Minister.
Khalap, who is also a constitutional expert, said after D'Souza's demise, the Congress, with 14 MLAs, remains the single largest party and it should be called to form a new government.
However, in the past, Governor Mridula Sinha has ignored multiple Congress representations seeking invitation to form the government, he added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)