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THe Kerala heights margaret court on midweek nullified the oath-taking of 20 BJP councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal corp and a Congress ward member of a gram panchayat for invoking names of Hindu deities, martyrs and other individuals during the ceremony, ruling that statutory oaths must be taken “in the name of God” or by solemn affirmation.Though the court allowed the councillors to re-take their oaths in four months, 19 councillors retook their oaths in the name of God in a hurriedly conducted function on Wednesday.One councillor, Sugathan, could not participate in the ceremony as he is currently in prison in connection with a KAPA case. The ward member of a gram panchayat is yet to retake his oath.The ruling by the bench of justice PV Kunhikrishnan came in response to two petitions challenging the oaths taken by 20 BJP councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation and one ward member of the Congress of a grama panchayat in the state.During the oath-taking ceremony held in December last year, the BJP councillors had invoked the names of various Hindu deities like Gurudeva, Bharatmata and Bharathamba, referred to social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, and martyrs of their political party. The Congress ward member had taken his oath in the name of the late chief minister Oommen Chandy.The HC verdict on Wednesday invalidated the oaths, ruling that under the Kerala Municipality Act and the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, elected representatives can take oath only “in the name of God” or by making a solemn affirmation.The court ruled that adding the names of specific deities, “Mother India”, political martyrs, organisations or individuals to the oath was impermissible.“Taking an oath by an elected person in a democracy means that the elected person is promising the electorate that he will be honest, he will follow the Constitution and the rule of law, and he will serve the people with sincerity. Therefore, when he takes the oath, it should be taken as prescribed by the relevant statute and rules,” the HC said.“We need not expand God by name. Let the almighty bless all! I leave it there. The upshot of the above discussion is that the writ petitions are to be allowed,” it said.

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Oaths must be taken ‘in name of God’ or by solemn affirmation, says Kerala High Court; 19 sworn in again

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