Kerala BJP councillors took oath in names of deities, martyrs. High Court didn’t agree
The court asked the councillors to be sworn in again within four weeks – ‘expansion of the term ‘God’ is not permissible’.
While declaring the oath invalid, the court said the councillors’ election cannot be set aside on that ground. (File Photo) The Kerala High Court Wednesday declared invalid the oath taken by 20 BJP councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation who took oath in the names of various deities, directing them to be sworn in again within four weeks.
A Bench of Justice P V Kunhikrishnan held that the “statute prescribes a particular manner in which an oath is to be taken by the elected members in a democracy, i.e., either in the name of God or a solemn affirmation, the expansion of ‘God’ is not permissible.’’
The court said Section 152 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Section 143 of the Kerala Municipality Act, read with the respective Schedules, provide that elected members must take the oath either in the name of God or by solemn affirmation, without any expansion. The term “God” is not defined in either Act. The situation is similar under Article 188 read with the Third Schedule of the Constitution, where the oath is also to be taken either in the name of God or by solemn affirmation.
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