The Panaji Bench of the Bombay high court on Friday set aside the election of two Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs on the grounds of holding an office of profit during the May 2002 assembly polls.

The court, however, stayed the order for 30 days.

The election of BJP's Rajendra Arlekar from Vasco and Dayanand Mandrekar from Siolim in the 2002 election was set aside by a single-judge bench.

The order followed petitions filed separately by Nationalist Congress Party members who had contested the election against the BJP MLAs.

The judgment has brought the BJP's strength in the Goa [Images] assembly down to 14 MLAs. The Congress has 17 MLAs.

The judgment came at a time when the BJP is struggling to stay in the race for government formation in the state.

Goa was placed under President's rule in March after none of the political combinations in the state could muster the numbers to form a government.