Mahua Moitra asks SC to expedite plea against expulsion from Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to urgently take up her plea against expulsion from the Lok Sabha in the 'cash for query' corruption case.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi mentioned before a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul to fix for hearing a writ petition by Moitra.

The bench, however, said, let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for taking a call on the issue.

Moitra on Monday filed the plea, 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 estranged partner 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 Moitra 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.