TMC MP Mahua Moitra moves to the Supreme Court challenging her expulsion from the Parliament

TMC MP Mahua Moitra moved to the Supreme Court on Monday, challenging her expulsion from the Parliament over the “cash-for-query” allegations leveled against her by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Moitra was expelled from the Parliament on December 8 after the Ethics Committee report that recommended her expulsion was tabled in the Lok Sabha.  

The 495-page Ethics Committee Report was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Discussion ensued over the recommendation of the Parliamentary body that “Mahua may be expelled”, and the TMC MP was expelled from the Parliament after the majority of the House voted in favor of her removal. "I am 49 years old, I will fight you for the next 30 years, inside parliament, outside parliament, in the gutter, on the street," said a visibly livid Mahua Moitra outside the Parliament, as she was denied the right to defend herself inside the House, despite several Opposition leaders pleading with the Speaker to allow the Krishnanagar MP a sliver of the House’s time.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey flagged the “cash-for-query” allegations against Mahua Moitra. In a letter addressed to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the Godda MP alleged that Moitra has accepted bribes from Darshan Hiranandani for asking critical questions to the Prime Minister regarding businessman Adani. Moreover, it had been stated that Mahua Moitra had shared her login credentials to post questions on the website. The TMC MP has cleared the air over the said allegations and said that there are no laws in terms of who can post questions and that the questions were hers, only posted on her behalf by the staff in Hiranandani, moreover, she denied taking any bribes.

However, the Ethics Committee report stated that by sharing her Parliamentary login credentials, Mahua had posed a threat to the “national security”, and recommended her expulsion. On December 8, after a session of a little over half an hour, TMC MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Parliament after the majority of the House voted in favor of her removal.