New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member in the Parliament, Mahua Moitra, Friday December 08, 2023 was expelled from the Indian Parliament’s Lower House following allegations that she took “cash to ask questions in the Lok Sabha”.
Moitra, a Member of Parliament from Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat, was expelled after the BJP majority House passed a motion that supported her expulsion as a Member of Parliament.
Earlier in the day, the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha presented a 104-page report in the Lok Sabha and recommended the expulsion of Mahua Moitra in connection with the "cash-for-query" allegations.
The Ethics Committee is probing BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s accusations that Moitra took bribes and “expensive gifts” for asking questions in the Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
In a letter to the ethics panel, Mahua had asked for permission to cross-examine the alleged ‘bribe giver’ Hiranandani and the complainant, Advocate Jai Dehadrai.
In an affidavit to the Ethics Committee on October 19, Hiranandani claimed that Moitra provided him her Parliament login ID and password so that he could “post questions” directly “on her behalf when required”.
Mahua Moitra denied all allegations and tried to explain her case in the Lok Sabha but she was not allowed to speak.
Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, she hit out at the Ethics Committee for "acting without proof" and said the panel was becoming a "weapon" to "bulldoze" the Opposition.
"This Lok Sabha has seen the weaponisation of a Parliamentary committee. Ironically, the ethics committee, which was set up as a moral compass for members, is instead being abused and made to do exactly what was never meant to, bulldoze the opposition and become another weapon to 'thok do' us into submission," she said.
She said the ethics panel report was based solely on two private citizens, whose versions "contradicted each other in material terms".
"You are finding me guilty or breaching a code of ethics that does not exist," she said.
TMC President and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meanwhile condemned the expulsion of her party colleague from the Parliament.
“Mahua is a victim of the circumstances. I strongly condemn this. The party completely stands with Mahua,” Mamata said.
Commenting on the expulsion of his party MP, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee while speaking in the Lok Sabha said that the House does not have the power to remove Mahua Moitra as its member and called the move a “violation of principles of natural justice”.
"The right of cross-examination is meaningful. Mahua Moitra has a right to cross-examine. This is a violation of principles of natural justice. Principles of natural justice are implicit in Article 14 of the Constitution”, Kalyan Banerjee said.
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