The Supreme Court has deferred the plea filed by expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra challenging her expulsion over alleged misconduct in the cash-for-query case. The hearing, scheduled for Friday, was adjourned until January 3. Moitra, representing the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, faced expulsion on December 8 amid cash-for-query charges, with the Lok Sabha accusing her of “direct involvement” in “unethical” conduct.
In her defence, Moitra has contested the expulsion, alleging “substantial illegality” and “arbitrariness” by the Lok Sabha ethics committee, which recommended the punitive action against her. The case was heard by a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on the last working day of the Supreme Court before its winter break.
Moitra’s counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, had made fervent attempts on Wednesday to secure an urgent hearing date for her petition. The Lok Sabha expelled Moitra with a voice vote, adopting an ethics committee report that proposed her expulsion for sharing login details and accepting gifts, possibly including cash, from businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
In her petition challenging the disqualification, Moitra highlighted being denied the opportunity to defend herself during a Lok Sabha discussion on the ethics panel’s findings. The controversy emerged after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raised concerns about Moitra’s conduct, based on a complaint by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehradun. The complaint alleged that Moitra accepted money and favours to pose questions in Parliament. In an affidavit to the ethics committee, Hiranandani claimed that Moitra provided him with her login ID and password for the Lok Sabha members’ website. The CBI has initiated a preliminary FIR in the case.