Row over oath-taking mars first Corporation council meeting

The heat of the recently concluded local body elections spilled over into the first meeting of the newly elected council of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, as the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) questioned the propriety of the 20 councillors to whom the Kerala High Court had issued a notice regarding their oaths, participating in the council.

LDF council party leader S.P.Deepak, who is the petitioner in the case, said that 20 councillors belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) who took oath in the name of various deities instead of swearing in the name of God or through a solemn affirmation, had violated the municipal rules. Until the court says a final word on this, the councillors are not eligible to attend the council, he said. 

Mayor V.V.Rajesh said that action cannot be taken against the councillors unless the High Court issues an order in the case. For a while, the issue led to heated exchanges between the councillors on both sides.

When the agendas for the day were taken up, LDF councillors K.Sreekumar and Vanchiyoor Babu alleged that the supplementary agenda for the development standing committee presented by standing committee chairperson Karamana Ajith, was not provided in advance to all the councillors. The supplementary agenda consisted of 93 revision projects as well as projects which were dropped due to various reasons.

UDF councillor K.S.Sabarinadhan raised an issue regarding the recent ward delimitations, due to which at least 12 wards have ended up with more than 10,000 population while others have much lesser numbers. He said that this could lead to problems in the selection of beneficiaries for various welfare projects as all wards have equal allocations. He demanded a special package for these wards during the planning process. Mr.Rajesh said that the demand will be considered.

The Mayor said that the tender process for purchasing 101 vehicles for Haritha Karma Sena in all the wards have been initiated. In addition, five trucks will also be purchased. UDF councillor K.H. Sudheer Khan of Vizhinjam ward was sworn in at the beginning of the council meeting.