Mahua Moitra seeks urgent hearing of plea against her expulsion; SC says CJI to take call

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra on Wednesday sought an urgent hearing from the Supreme Court, days after she filed a petition challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha claiming there was “substantial illegality” and “arbitrariness” in the conduct of the Parliament Ethics Committee and the subsequent House proceedings that found her guilty of jeopardising national security by sharing her parliamentary portal login credentials with her businessman “friend” Darshan Hiranandani.

The expediting of the hearing was sought by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The bench headed by Justice SK Kaul informed Singhvi that the mentioned plea would have to be placed before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in the afternoon and he would take a call on the listing of the matter.

In her petition filed on Saturday night, within 24 hours of the Lok Sabha accepting the Ethics Committee report on Friday, Moitra alleged that she was not allowed to present her defence in the House during a discussion on the Ethics Committee findings.

The Lok Sabha on October 8 passed a resolution to expel Mahua Moitra from Parliament after the Lok Sabha ethics committee placed a report on the ‘cash-for-query’ case recommending her disqualification as an MP.

She was accused of taking bribes in the form of cash and other gifts from industrialist Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for raising questions in Parliament related to Adani Group’s Gautam Adani. The complaint was first filed by Moitra’s friend Jai Anant Dehadrai and later taken up with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

Moitra challenged the entire proceedings that took place before the Ethics Panel in her petition by saying the panel did not call Hiranandani and simply went by the allegations in the complaint that were supported by an affidavit filed by Hiranandani. She further alleged that the witnesses were not allowed to be cross-examined.