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Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra's plea against her expulsion from Lok Sabha in a cash-for-query case was mentioned before the Supreme Court on Wednesday for an urgent hearing.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who asked him to mention the plea before the Chief Justice of India. Justice Kaul said, "Let CJI decide.. I cannot decide it at this stage." Justice Kaul is retiring on December 25. Moitra approached the top court, challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha. Moitra was on Friday expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the 'cash for query' that was tabled in the Lower House. Moitra, who was not allowed to speak during the discussion inside the House, said that the Ethics Committee broke every rule. The expelled Lok Sabha MP alleged that she has been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that 'does not exist'. Moitra further alleged that the findings are solely based on the written testimonies of two private citizens whose versions contradict each other in material terms and her right to cross-examine them was snatched. "None of whom I was allowed to cross-examine. One of the two private citizens is my estranged partner, who, with malafide intention, masqueraded as a common citizen in front of the committee. The two testimonies have been used to hang me there at polar opposites to each other," she said. The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of the TMC MP had recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner". The report was adopted by a 6:4 majority in the panel last month. The report on Moitra's cash-for-query case revealed that she visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times. (ANI)
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