SC to hear Mahua Moitra's plea against Lok Sabha expulsion on Jan 3

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday posted a plea by TMC leader Mahua Moitra against expulsion from the Lok Sabha in the 'cash for query' corruption case for consideration on January 3, 2024.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti said they received the case file only on Friday morning, so they would require time to go through it.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, for Moitra sought to put the arguments through the synopsis of the writ petition, but the bench deferred the hearing on reopening of the court after the winter vacation.

Moitra filed the plea this week, terming the decision to expel her as "unjust, unfair and arbitrary" and against the principle of natural justice.

She was ousted from the Parliament as the MP from Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal after the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha found her guilty of jeopardising national security by sharing her parliamentary portal's login credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani.

Moitra was accused of posing several queries in Parliament concerning the Adani group of companies at the behest of a rival businessman Hiranandani.

On December 8, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution to expel Moitra from Parliament in view of the Ethics Committee recommending her disqualification as an MP.

Her expulsion was recommended by the committee on the basis of Hiranandani's affidavit saying she accepted bribes, including expensive gifts to ask his questions targeting the Adani Group.

The development had come on a complaint by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on the basis of an affidavit by Moitra's past friend advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.

In a sharp reaction to her expulsion, Moitra equated the action with hanging by a "kangaroo court". She alleged that a parliamentary panel was being weaponised by the government to force the opposition into submission.

Mahua claimed she had been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist and that there was no evidence of cash or gift given to her.