Moitra appeals her removal from the Lok Sabha to the highest court

Mahua Moitra, a member of Parliament for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn her expulsion from the Lok Sabha due to the cash-for-query accusations. She claims that the House’s ethics committee acted arbitrarily and with “substantial illegality.”

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the TMC member from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar district has also written to the Supreme Court registry, asking for an early listing and subsequent hearing of the matter.

The Lok Sabha disqualified Moitra on Friday due to her “direct involvement” in cash-for-query charges and “unethical” conduct. Moitra is a first-time member who gained notoriety in the House with her combative speeches. This is the first time a member has been removed from Parliament on similar grounds in almost 20 years.

After adopting an ethics committee report that recommended her expulsion for sharing her login credentials and password with an unauthorized person, its impact on national security, and accepting gifts and possibly cash as a “quid pro quo” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani, the Lower House expelled the TMC legislator by voice vote in the midst of a walkout by Opposition members.

In actuality, Moitra has only been excluded from the Lok Sabha for this session. She is eligible to run for office in 2024 and return to the Lower House if she is elected.

According to a second source connected to the TMC leader’s decision to approach the court, Moitra contested the disqualification procedure in her petition, which she filed through advocate Shadan Farasat in the top court on Saturday. She also cited the fact that she was denied the opportunity to defend herself in the House during a debate on the ethics committee’s conclusions.

The head of the TMC also questioned the ethics panel’s processes, claiming that Hiranandani was not called and that cross-examination of witnesses was not permitted. She said that the panel was just considering a complaint against her, which Hiranandani’s evidence backed up.

However, because this is the last working week before the court shuts for holiday, Moitra’s legal team declined to provide any information about the petition while they awaited the registry’s ruling.

After BJP politician Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in September, Moitra became involved in the dispute. Dehradai, a lawyer, had said that the TMC legislator had taken gifts and money in exchange for asking questions in Parliament.

Moitra questioned other lawmakers about whether they had ever given their passwords and refuted claims that she had received gifts.

The ethics panel received the allegation and met twice, on September 26 and October 2. In the first meeting, the two complainants, Dubey and Dehadrai, gave their depositions. During her cross-examination, Moitra, who had taken a deposition at the previous meeting, left the room, claiming that chairman Vinod Sonkar had been asking “filthy and personal questions.” Sonkar then claimed that Moitra had used unparliamentary language against the panel and the chair, as well as rage to divert reasonable queries.

The report was approved by the Lok Sabha ethics committee on November 9th, with a vote of 6-4.

Moitra claimed the parliamentary committee was “weaponized” and likened the procedures to a kangaroo court after her dismissal on Friday.

“MPs need to use the ethics committee as a moral compass.” Rather, it has been terribly misused today to do precisely what it was never intended to: to crush the opposition and turn into yet another tool to “to do” (hammer) us into submission, the speaker said.

The statement continued, “The committee’s conclusions are based solely on the written testimony of two private citizens (Hiranandani and attorney Jay Anant Dehadrai), none of whom I was permitted to cross-examine, and whose versions contradict each other in material terms.”

In the last 20 years, there have been two cash-for-query cases heard in Parliament. On December 12, 2005, the website Cobrapost conducted a sting operation that revealed 11 Members of Parliament taking payment in return for asking questions in the Parliament. Parliament decided on December 24, 2005, to remove the 11 MPs, 10 of whom were from the Lok Sabha and 1 from the Rajya Sabha.