The Ethics Committee has approved a report recommending Mahua Moitra’s ouster from the Lok Sabha.
The Ethics Committee has approved a report recommending Mahua Moitra's ouster from the Lok Sabha.
The draft report on the cash-for-query charges against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was cleared by the parliament ethics committee on Thursday, with six members voting in favor and four voting against.
The panel, which was chaired by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, convened in the evening to vote on the report.
“The ethics committee had written a report on the allegations against Mahua Moitra. The report was written during today’s meeting. “Four members submitted dissent notes, while six members supported the report,” Sonkar told reporters following the meeting.
On Friday, he said, a full report would be delivered to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. “The action, whatever it is, will be taken by the Speaker” .
Members of the opposition claimed that the panel’s recommendation was “prejudiced” and “incorrect.”
Moitra is accused of accepting bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for asking questions in parliament about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani, as well as of sharing login information for her parliament account with the businessman. Moitra testified before the ethics panel on November 2, but she left in the middle, accusing the panel chairman of asking personal and unethical questions.
The committee also heard testimony from BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who submitted the complaint against Moitra, and counsel Jai Anant Dehadrai, who allegedly presented evidence against the TMC MP.
There are hints that the committee would be critical of Moitra’s behavior, particularly after her allegations against panel head Sonkar.
According to the newspaper, the committee stated in its report that BSP MP Danish Ali, one of the party’s most vociferous opposition members, should be chastised for “twisting” the objective of Sonkar’s questions to Moitra during the committee’s last hearing on November 2.
‘Privilege infringement’
Despite the fact that the ethics committee endorsed the draft report at its meeting on Thursday, the report’s content was extensively published on TV news channels on Wednesday evening.
Moitra wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Thursday, charging a “serious breach of privilege” after private news networks obtained the committee’s confidential draft report.
“There is clearly a total breakdown of all Lok Sabha due process and rules.” “Your inaction and failure to respond to my previous complaints is also regrettable,” she wrote in her letter.
