Thiruvananthapuram Corporation's BJP member R Sugathan on Tuesday got himself sworn in as a councillor for the second time inside Viyyur Central Jail right on the deadline set by the High Court. 

The HC, in its order on June 24, had said that the 20 BJP councillors who had taken faulty oaths (in the names of deities and renaissance figures instead of the no-frills 'in the name of God') should take their oaths once again within four weeks. Therefore, the members had to take a second oath on or before July 14. The others had taken their oaths on June 25. 

Sugathan could not join the others as he was arrested on June 9 and detained in Viyyur Central Jail under Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA). The State Police Chief told the High Court that a KAAPA detainee could not be released from jail. The Court was also told that a KAAPA detainee like Sugathan did not have the immunity of Article 22 of the Constitution (Protection against arrest and detention).

However, the Police Chief was willing to accept the Court's solution of converting the Viyyur jail premises into the venue of the fresh swearing in. So after the jail swearing in of Sugathan, and with the support of an Independent (Kannammoola councillor Patoor Radhakrishnan), the BJP-led NDA has restored its majority of 51 members.

But the legal factors that strictly confined Sugathan's fresh oath within the jail premises can work in the near future to threaten the existence of the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Section 12 of KAAPA says that a person can be kept in jail for up to six months, and Sugathan is certain to be held in jail at least till December this year.

Section 91(k) of the Kerala Municipality Act says that disqualification will result if a member absents herself from the meetings of the council for a period of three consecutive months. Before December, the Corporation Council will have to convene at least three times. Since he is near certain to miss these council meetings, it is said that Sugathan would face automatic disqualification.

However, legal experts say that the clause is so intricately worded that it has enough to save Sugathan and the BJP. Here is how Clause (K) begins: "absents himself without the permission of the Municipality concerned from the meetings of the council...". "Evidently, a member is considered absent only if he or she has not taken the permission of the municipality, in this case the Corporation," a former Corporation secretary said. 

In other words, this clause empowers the Mayor to grant Sugathan leave for six months. As a point of fact, Sugathan has already applied for leave. Mayor V V Rajesh can read out a resolution at one of the upcoming council meetings saying that Sugathan has been granted leave. If the opposition disputes the ruling, the Mayor can leave the ruling for a vote. Even without Sugathan, the combined opposition has a strength of only 49. The NDA minus Sugathan is still 50.

After Sugathan's fresh swearing in, Mayor Rajesh sounded confident. He said he himself would look after the needs of Sugathan's Vazhottukonam ward. ""I am looking after the needs of Vazhottukonam. Moreover, it shares a boundary with my Kodunganoor ward. There is already an office system in place in Vazhottukonam and the people in the ward will not suffer," the Mayor said.

Still, the BJP is aware of the political risks of protecting a 'goonda' can be politically harmful. "If the LDF and the UDF are going to mount a high intensity moral campaign, we will not hesitate to go for a by-election in Vazhottukonam," a senior BJP leader in Thiruvananthapuram said. "We have tonnes of evidence to show that the CPM is rattled by the anti-corruption measures that the BJP council has launched. We will go to the people with this," the leader said.