Expulsion from Lok Sabha: CJI to take call on listing of Mahua Moitra's plea, says SC

Mahua Moitra. Pic/PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud will take a call on the listing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra's plea challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha.

Moitra's plea was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia.

"The CJI will take the call," Justice Kaul told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who mentioned the plea.

CJI Chandrachud is heading a five-judge Constitution bench that assembled on Wednesday to hear a matter.

The TMC leader has approached the top 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 interests.

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.

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