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Moitra moves top court against her Lok Sabha expulsion
On Friday, the Lok Sabha disqualified Moitra over her “direct involvement” in cash-for-query charges and “unethical” conduct
Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of Parliament Mahua Moitra has moved the Supreme Court against her disqualification from the Lok Sabha over the cash-for-query charges, alleging “substantial illegality” and “arbitrariness” by the House’s ethics committee that recommended the action against her.
The TMC legislator from Krishnanagar in West Bengal has also written to the Supreme Court registry, requesting an early listing and subsequent hearing of the matter, according to a person aware of the matter.
On Friday, the Lok Sabha disqualified Moitra, a first-time member who rose to prominence with her combative speeches in the House, over her “direct involvement” in cash-for-query charges and “unethical” conduct — the first time in nearly two decades that a member has been removed from Parliament on similar allegations.
The Lower House expelled the TMC legislator with a voice vote amid a walkout by Opposition members, adopting an ethics committee report that recommended her expulsion for sharing her login credentials and password with an unauthorised person, its impact on national security, and accepting gifts and possibly cash as a “quid pro quo” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
To be sure, Moitra has only been disqualified from this term of the Lok Sabha. She can contest the 2024 elections and if she wins, come back to the Lower House.
In her petition filed through advocate Shadan Farasat in the top court on Saturday, Moitra challenged the disqualification process and pointed at how she was not allowed to defend herself in the House during a discussion on the findings of the ethics committee, said a second person linked to the TMC leader’s decision to approach the court.
The TMC leader also challenged the proceedings before the ethics panel, saying the committee did not summon Hiranandani and did not allow witnesses to be cross-examined. She also said that the panel simply went by a complaint against her that was supported by an affidavit filed by Hiranandani.
Moitra’s legal team, however, refused to share details of the petition, awaiting a decision of the registry, as this is the last working week before the court closes for vacation.
Moitra found herself embroiled in the row after BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in September on the basis of a complaint by lawyer Dehradai, who alleged the TMC legislator accepted money and favours to ask questions in Parliament.
Moitra denied the charges that she received gifts, and asked other parliamentarians if they never shared their passwords.
The complaint was referred to the ethics panel, which held two meetings on September 26 and October 2. Dubey and Dehadrai, the two complainants, deposed in the first meeting. Moitra deposed in the second meeting but walked out of it during her cross-examination, accusing chairman Vinod Sonkar of asking “filthy and personal questions.” Sonkar later alleged that Moitra used anger to deflect legitimate questions, and used unparliamentary language against the panel and the chair.
On November 9, the Lok Sabha ethics committee adopted the report by a margin of 6-4.
Following her expulsion on Friday, Moitra compared the proceedings to a kangaroo court and said the parliamentary committee was “weaponised”.
“The ethics committee has to serve as a moral compass for MPs. Instead, it has been abused egregiously today to do exactly what it was never meant to do: to bulldoze the Opposition and become another weapon to ‘thok do’ (hammer) us into submission,” she said.
“The committee’s findings are based only on the written testimonies of two private citizens (Hiranandani and lawyer Jay Anant Dehadrai) whose versions contradict each other in material terms and none of whom I was allowed to cross-examine,” she added.
This is the second cash-for-query case in Parliament in two decades. A sting operation by online site Cobrapost on December 12, 2005, had showed 11 MPs accepting cash in exchange for raising questions in the Parliament. On December 24, 2005, Parliament voted to expel the 11 MPs — 10 from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha.
