Tense scenes unfolded in the Thiruvananthapuram corporation council meeting on Monday as the councillors nearly came to blows after the attendance register was snatched away from the Congress councillors by the BJP councillor Chempazhanthy Udayan. The BJP opposed to the Congress councillors marking their attendance at the council meeting which led to councillors shoving each other and trading verbal arguments.

A heavy posse of police was deployed at the main office anticipating face-off between the councillors ahead of the council meeting. The LDF councillors arrived at the council hall, holding placards and demanding the expulsion of BJP councillor R Sugathan, who has been jailed in connection with a KAAPA case. The CPM councillors, who were injured during a protest in front of Mayor's chamber, also arrived in wheelchairs for the meeting.

Even as the LDF councillors raised slogans, standing near the Mayor's dais, Mayor V V Rajesh declared that a panel will probe allegations of disrepair at the housing complex in Harbour ward. He also said the council will demand a forensic audit into the implementation of the smart city project. He declared that some of the items on the agenda under the Public Works standing committee have been put off. He also announced all other items on the agenda have been passed and dismissed the council meeting.

Mayor's declaration provoked the opposition councillors who persisted with sloganeering. While UDF parliamentary party leader K S Sabarinathan was talking to the media, holding the attendance register, it was forcibly taken away by Chempazhanthy Udayan, resulting in a tense altercation. A verbal argument ensued, accompanied by pushing and shoving at each other.

UDF councillors alleged that the BJP set up a ploy to make it look like no councillor could mark their attendance due to the tension that broke out in the council meeting. "This was done to save Sugathan who is in jail. When we started signing on the register, they were provoked and acted in an unruly manner and hurled abuses at us," UDF councillors said.

Repeated absence from council meetings could lead to Sugathan's disqualification as the councillor.