Ethics panel report on Mahua Moitra’s ‘cash-for-query’ case to be tabled in Lok Sabha today

A report by the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee in connection with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s ‘cash-for-query’ case will be tabled on Friday.

The report, which recommended Moitra’s expulsion from Parliament, was earlier listed on the agenda of the lower house for December 4, but was not tabled.

The development comes after several Opposition members insisted on a discussion on the ethics panel’s recommendations before a decision is taken on the Trinamool Congress MP.

Earlier on November 9, during a meeting, the ethics panel headed by Chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar adopted its report recommending Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha over the ‘cash-for-query’ allegation.

Six members of the panel, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur, who had earlier been suspended from the grand old party due to anti-party actions, voted in favour of the report.

Four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes.

The Opposition members termed the report a “fixed match” and said the complaint filed by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey, which the panel reviewed, was not supported by a “shred of evidence”. Dubey first raised the ‘cash-for-query’ allegations against Moitra, basing those on Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai’s accusations that the Trinamool Congress MP accepted cash to ask questions on behalf of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in Parliament.

Dehradrai is the estranged partner of Moitra and the Trinamool Congress MP has repeatedly refuted the allegations against her.

Moitra can be expelled only if the House votes in favour of the ethics panel’s recommendation.