The Supreme Court will on Friday (15th December) hear TMC leader Mahua Moitra’s plea challenging her expulsion as Lok Sabha MP in the cash-for-query case. On Wednesday, Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, mentioned before a bench headed by CJI the plea of Moitra for urgent listing.
This comes two days after the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday (13th December) assured Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra that he would look into the listing of her plea against her expulsion from Lok Sabha in a cash-for-query case.
CJI had assured the senior advocate that he would look into the listing aspect at lunch during the day. “The matter may not have been registered… If an email was sent, then I would look at it right away. Please send it,” the CJI said.
Moitra was expelled from the House on 8th December following a discussion on the report submitted by the Ethics Committee which was tabled in the House.
The report based on the probe on “unethical conduct” of the TMC MP had recommended that Moitra be expelled from the Lok Sabha and called for an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the central government in a “time-bound manner”.
As per the report, Moitra visited the United Arab Emirates four times from 2019 to 2023 from where her Parliament login was accessed several times.
As per sources, the Committee noted that Moitra’s actions left “irrepressible impact on the national security.” It had noted that the TMC leader’s conduct is unbecoming of a member of Parliament.
Moitra had accepted expensive luxury items as gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interests. The businessmen allegedly used her Parliamentary login to list questions against Adani.
A CBI is probing allegations of corruption and bribery where she has herself admitted that she had given her login credentials to businessman Darshan Hiranandani to pose questions on her behalf.
The questions were related to Hiranandani’s business interests and were targeted at his rival Adani Group. Hiranandani has admitted to paying cash, lavish gifts to Moitra, and having access to her Lok Sabha login credentials.
Reacting to her expulsion, Moitra said the expulsion was equal to a hanging by a “kangaroo court”. Moitra staged her outburst in a long address outside the Parliament.
