Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra moved the Supreme Court challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha, after the House adopted the report of its ethics committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest.
On December 8, after a heated debate in the Lok Sabha over the panel report during which Moitra was not allowed to speak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel the TMC MP from the House for "unethical conduct", which was adopted by a voice vote.
Reacting sharply to her expulsion, Moitra had equated the action with hanging by a "kangaroo court" and alleged that a parliamentary panel was being weaponised by the government to force the opposition into submission.
The ethics committee report found Moitra guilty of "unethical conduct" and contempt of the House as she shared her Lok Sabha members' portal credentials -user ID and password -with unauthorised people, which had an irrepressible impact on national security, Joshi said.
The committee had also recommended that in view of the "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct" of Moitra, an intense, legal and institutional inquiry be initiated by the government in a time-bound manner.