Kerala High Court invalidates oaths of 20 BJP councilors in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, fresh oath administered to 19

Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Mayor GS Asha Nath was sworn in at the corporation’s conference hall on Wednesday following the Kerala High Court’s order invalidating her earlier oath. Of the 20 BJP councilors who were ordered by the Supreme Court to take their oath again, 19 took their oath before Mayor VV Rajesh. | Photo credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (June 24, 2026) ordered 20 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councilors in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation and a member of the Congress council of Vadakkanchery grama panchayat in Palakkad to take oath again at an oath-taking ceremony to be held within four weeks of the swearing-in ceremony. affirmation.

Single Judge PV Kunhikrishnan allowed a petition filed by Left Democratic Front (LDF) Council party leader in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, SP Deepak, and directed the state to make necessary arrangements to facilitate the swearing-in ceremony of the council members again. Mr. Deepak argued that since the oath taken by the 20 councilors violated the provisions of the Municipalities Act, any subsequent action by the councilors in their official capacity was invalid.

Invalid

The councilors claimed that they had sworn in the name of their faith that certain persons and deities were their God and thus their oaths were valid. The court ruled that the original oaths taken by the councilors in the name of various deities, martyrs and political movements were invalid under the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994. However, the court ruled that “Simply because the councilors committed illegality in taking the oath, their election cannot be annulled. The mandate of the people is supreme in a democracy.”

While Deputy Mayor GS Asha Nath and Councilor R. Vinod took the oath in the name of Bharath Matha, some members of the council took the oath in the name of “Balidaanis” (martyrs in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh parlance). A few of them took the oath in the name of Sree Padmanabhaswamy, while a few opted for Attukal Amma. Some chose to take the oath in the name of their local deities – Councilor Thiruvallam Gopakumar took the oath in the name of Thiruvallam Parasuraman, Councilor Kamaleswaram V. Giri in the name of Irumkulangara Durga Bhagavathi, Councilor Pangode Vishnu Mohan in the name of Udiyannoor Devi Council and Valiyasa in the name of Udiyannoor Devi Council and Valiyas “Kaavilamma.”

The ceremony took place

Immediately after the court’s decision, a swearing-in ceremony was quickly organized in the corporation’s conference hall, in which 19 councilors took the oath.

R. Sugathan, who was arrested under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA) and currently lodged in the maximum security correctional facility at Viyyur Central Jail in Thrissur, could not attend. With more than 19 criminal cases, including several serious charges such as attempted murder, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to take his oath again in the next four weeks. Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are demanding his removal from the council. Mr. Sugathan took the oath in the name of ‘Gurudevana’.

In Vadakkanchery

In a related petition jointly heard by the Single Bench, the oath taken by Congress member Sunil Chuvattupadam, an elected member of Vadakkanchery panchayat, was also declared invalid under the Panchayat Raj Act, 1994. All acts done by Mr. Chuvattupadam as a grama panchayat member were declared invalid.

Published – 24 Jun 2026 20:44 IST