Cash-for-Query Allegations: Mahua Moitra Moves SC against Lok Sabha Expulsion

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra on Monday moved the Supreme Court against her expulsion from the Lok Sabha over ‘Cash-for-Query’ allegations.
On 8^th December, Mahua Moitra faced expulsion from the Lok Sabha following a deliberation on the Ethics Committee’s report concerning the ‘cash for query’ issue, which was presented in the Lower House. Despite being denied the opportunity to address the House during the discussion, the TMC leader conveyed her statement outside the Lok Sabha.

Moitra accused the Ethics Committee of violating established rules, asserting, “This LS has also witnessed the weaponization of the Parliamentary committee. Ironically, the Ethics Committee, originally designated to serve as a moral compass for members, has instead been egregiously abused today to accomplish precisely what it was never intended for—to bulldoze the opposition and transform into another instrument to ‘thok do’ (crush) us into submission.”

Following the adoption of the motion to expel the TMC MP, the opposition staged a walkout. Moitra, aged 49, pledged a sustained fight both inside and outside the Parliament for the next 30 years. She declared, “We will see the end of you. This is the beginning of your end. We’re going to come back, and we’re going to see the end of you.”

The expelled Lok Sabha MP contended that she was deemed guilty of breaching a code of ethics that she claims “does not exist.” Moitra further alleged that the findings were based solely on the written testimonies of two private citizens, whose accounts contradicted each other in material aspects, and she was denied the right to cross-examine them.

“I was not allowed to cross-examine either of them. One of the two private citizens is my estranged partner, who, with malafide intention, posed as a common citizen before the committee. The two testimonies have been utilized to hang me at polar opposites to each other,” she expressed.

The Ethics Committee’s report, investigating the ‘Unethical Conduct’ of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP, recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha and called for an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the central government in a “time-bound manner.” The report, adopted by a 6:4 majority in the panel last month, disclosed that Moitra visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023, during which her login was accessed multiple times.