The Kerala High Court, on Wednesday, declared as invalid the oath taken by 20 BJP corporation councillors and a member of Vadakkenchery gram panchayat. The BJP councillors, who won the civic body elections in 2025, took oath in the name of Mother India, martyrs of the organisation and Gurudeva. The panchayat member took oath in the name of late Congress leader Oommen Chandy.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan ordered that all the 20 councillors and the panchayat member shall take the oath once again within four weeks. The order quoted Section 152 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Section 143 of the Kerala Municipality Act, which provides that the oath is to be taken by elected members either in the name of God or by solemn affirmation without any expansion.

"The term 'God' is not defined either in the Panchayat Raj Act or in the Municipality Act. The situation is similar under Article 188, coupled with the Third Schedule of the Constitution, where also, the oath is to be taken either in the name of God or by solemn affirmation. When 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 order reads.

The petition was moved by CPM councillor S P Deepak who challenged the manner in which oath was taken by the BJP councillors and cited that it violated the provisions of the Municipality act.

BJP councillors who will have to take the oath again include Chembazhanthi Udayan, R Sugathan, Vishnu Mohan, Surya V S, Sreedevi S K, Pappanamcode Saji, R C Beena, Ashanath G S, Vayalkkara Rajesh, R Vinod, Gopakumar, Sruthi S S, V Giri, Saritha P, Harikumar, Deepa S Nair, O Sukanya, Jaya Rajeev, Sunil S S and Mini P S. Ashanath is the Deputy Mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram city corporation.