New Delhi, Dec 18 – The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till January 3 next yearTrinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra’s plea challenging her expulsion as a Lok Sabha member over alleged misconduct in the cash-for-query case.
The matter was listed before a bench but since Friday was the last working day of the Supreme Court as it closes for the winter break, the matter was adjourned for January 3.
Moitra’s counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, made hectic attempts in the Supreme Court on December 14 to get an early hearing in the case. He even approached the Chief Justice DY Chandrachud requesting for an early hearing.
Mahua Moitra, who was elected from the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, was expelled on December 8 from the Lok Sabha on cash-for-query charges. She was charged for her “direct involvement” in “unethical” conduct.
The Lok Sabha had expelled Mahua Moitra with a voice vote amid a walkout by opposition MPs, adopting an ethics committee report that recommended her expulsion for sharing her login details, and accepting gifts and possibly cash from businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
Mahua Moitra challenged the disqualification saying that she was not given a chance to defend herself. Moitra has challenged the report of the Lok Sabha ethics committee, which recommended the action against her, calling it arbitrary.
The matter came to light after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in September on a complaint made by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehradai, who alleged that she accepted money and favours to ask questions in Parliament.
In an affidavit to the ethics committee on October 19, Darshan Hiranandani claimed that Moitra provided him with her login ID and password for the Lok Sabha members’ website. The CBI has already filed a preliminary FIR in the case.
