Mahua Moitra alleges breach of Parliament rules after media report cites Ethics Committee findings

The Lok Sabha speaker has received a letter from Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra regarding the draft report being made public in a news report. Moitra is scheduled to hear the Ethics Committee’s decision regarding the alleged “Cash for Query” scam today.

“I am placing this on record even though I have not received any response to my previous letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla,” Mahua Moitra wrote in a post on X about her correspondence with Birla.

“A very serious breach of rule 275 (2) contained in the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Lok Sabha where the draft report by the Committee on Ethics on the subject of Unethical Conduct by Mahua Moitra, MP, was accessed by a media channel on November 8, a day before it is to be placed before the Committee” the TMC MP alleged.

“It is even more shocking because this media channel is majority owned by the Adani group, against whom I have raised very serious issues of corporate fraud and breach of financial and securities regulations, in the Lok Sabha. I have been targeted for speaking out against this corporate giant and it is absolutely shocking how a channel owned by this group has access to a confidential Committee report which is the subject of my alleged unethical conduct,” Mahua Moitra further alleged.

She further stated in her letter that this is totally a breakdown of the rules of the Lok Sabha. “There is clearly a total breakdown of all due process and rules of the Lok Sabha. Your inaction and lack of response to my previous complaints is also unfortunate,” she claimed.

The meeting of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee which is investigating the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey will take place later today.
Meanwhile, expressing solidarity with his party leader, Mahua Moitra ahead of the Ethics Committee meeting, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioned reports that Mahua would be suspended from Parliament.

“Just note that yesterday, the current chairman of the Ethics Committee recommended expulsion. When you have no evidence then how could you recommend expulsion” Abhishek Banerjee said.

Ahead of the meeting of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee which is probing the ‘Cash-for-Query’ allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, the Committee’s Chairperson, Vinod Sonkar said that a report has been drafted and after discussion, it will be sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker.

When questioned about the possibility of revoking Mahua Moitra’s Lok Sabha membership, Sonkar said, “The Committee will decide on this. After examining all the facts, it will send its report to the Speaker.”