NEW DELHI: Days after her expulsion from the Lok Sabha, 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra on Monday knocked the doors of the Supreme Court against her removal, a lawyer connected with the case told TNIE.
The action against the TMC leader came after the Lok Sabha’s ethics panel found her guilty of accepting cash and expensive gifts from a businessman to ask questions attacking the Adani group and cornering the Narendra Modi-led government in Parliament. The charges against her include sharing her Parliament login credentials to unauthorised people for posting questions directly on her behalf.
“Former Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra has filed a petition before the Supreme Court to challenge her expulsion from the Lower House in the ‘cash-for-query’ scam,” her lawyer said. He added that the petition is likely to come up for hearing within a week or even sooner, given the gravity of the case.
In her petition, Mahua has sought enforcement of her fundamental rights recognised by the Constitution. “The Ethics Committee order is unfair, unjust and arbitrary,” she said in her petition, adding that she was denied natural justice during the committee’s investigation against her.
Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha on December 8, following a heated debate in the House over the ethics panel’s report. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved the motion to expel the TMC MP for “unethical conduct”, which was adopted by the House by a voice vote. During the debate, the Lok Sabha Speaker did not allow Moitra to speak. The ethics panel report had also recommended a legal as well as institutional inquiry against the TMC leader.
‘Fight to continue’
Moitra posted a video message on Sunday, thanking her well-wishers and party activists for their support. She added that she will press ahead with the fight against her expulsion