Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has voted to remove its leader in a row over the possible postponement of local elections.
Labour's Chris Watkins was removed from office after the Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors combined forces to defeat Labour in a vote of no confidence during an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday evening.
The Conservatives prompted the vote and their leader, Kris Wilson, said: "This is fundamentally about our right to vote. A vote which has been hard won over centuries and to try and deny that vote to residents is an extraordinary act."
The row erupted after Watkins wrote to the government to request elections due to be held on 5 May be postponed.
He argued that would not be "a prudent use of resources", saying money could instead be used to help prepare for the abolition of Warwickshire's councils, which are set to be replaced with a new single tier authority by 2028.
Despite the blow of having their leader ousted, Labour retained leadership of the council, with Watkins' deputy Steve Hey voted in at the end of the two-and-a-half hour meeting.
He was installed with the help of the council's two Green Party councillors, ahead of Conservative challenger Wilson. Their support came after Hey signalled was he in favour of local elections taking place as planned.
Asked by the BBC whether he would categorically reverse the position of his Labour predecessor by telling the government elections should take place, Hey said: "In Nuneaton and Bedworth, yes. And bring it on."
With half of the borough's seats up for grabs, Labour had been accused of "running scared" by the Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council, George Finch.
Responding to that claim, Hey suggested Finch had "too much time on his hands".
He said: "Do I look like I'm running scared? I think the elections are going to be very difficult and I think the problem is that local elections are run on national lines."
During the meeting, Hey signalled his unhappiness with the government around the issue of postponing elections.
He told the meeting: "I do wish that our government had not written to us to ask us what our opinion is. I'd rather they had just got on with deciding what they wanted to do in the first place. It would have been much easier, wouldn't it? And I do feel that we've been put on here."
More than a third of eligible councils in England have asked to postpone their elections in May amid government plans to restructure how local authorities are organised.
More than 2.5 million voters could be affected - including those in neighbouring Rugby Borough Council, which has also requested a delay.
Neighbouring Coventry will not face a delay to elections as the authority is not undergoing a restructure and is therefore not eligible.