Lok Sabha Expulsion: SC Defers Hearing on Mahua Moitra’s Plea till Jan 3

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing on Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra’s plea challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha until January 3, 2024. Moitra challenged her expulsion in the apex court after the Lok Sabha adopted the report of its ethics committee, which found her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman.

Upon the commencement of the hearing, a bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti informed senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Moitra, that the bench had not reviewed the case files. The bench expressed its preference to hear the case upon the reopening of the court after the winter break, concluding on January 3.

On December 8, following a contentious debate in the Lok Sabha regarding the panel report, during which Moitra was denied the opportunity to speak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi presented a motion to expel the TMC MP from the House for “unethical conduct.” The motion was approved by a voice vote.

The ethics committee found Moitra culpable of “unethical conduct” and contempt of the House for sharing her Lok Sabha members’ portal credentials, including user ID and password, with unauthorized individuals. According to Joshi, this had an irrepressible impact on national security. The committee also recommended the initiation of an intense legal and institutional inquiry by the government, with a specified deadline, given Moitra’s “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous, and criminal conduct.”

Joshi’s motion highlighted Moitra’s conduct as “unbecoming as an MP” for accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman, characterizing it as a “serious misdemeanour” and “highly-deplorable conduct” on her part.

Previously, Chairman of the ethics committee, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, had presented the initial report of the panel based on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey against Moitra. In October, Dubey, relying on a complaint filed by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, alleged that Moitra had solicited cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for posing questions in the Lok Sabha to criticize industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an affidavit submitted to the ethics committee on October 19, Hiranandani asserted that Moitra had provided him with her login ID and password for the Lok Sabha members’ website. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already initiated a preliminary FIR in the case.