A meeting to decide the future leadership of North Yorkshire Council's Conservative group ended without a vote after descending into disagreement and distress.
Former executive member Keane Duncan had been nominated to challenge current group and council leader Carl Les, but a planned vote at Wednesday's annual general meeting collapsed over a dispute about who was eligible to take part.
Some members argued that independent councillors aligned with the Conservative group should be permitted to vote, but this conflicts with Conservative Party rules, which bar non-members from voting on leadership matters.
According to the BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service, the meeting was described as "tense and chaotic", with some councillors visibly upset during the debate.
The vote has been deferred until July, with Les acknowledging the group's constitution had "not kept up" with its current composition. A working party will now review the rules.
