Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra has challenged her suspension from Lok Sabha in a plea filed before the Supreme Court.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Friday issued a notification announcing the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from the lower house over the ‘cash-for-query’ allegations.
The notification came hours after Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha as the House adopted a report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest.
“Consequent on the adoption of a Motion by the Lok Sabha on the 8th December, 2023 expelling Smt. Mahua Moitra, an elected member from the Krishnanagar Parliamentary Constituency of West Bengal from the membership of Lok Sabha, Smt. Mahua Moitra has ceased to be a member of Lok Sabha with effect from the 8th December, 2023 afternoon,” the notification read.
After a heated debate over the panel report during which Moitra was not allowed to speak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel the Trinamool member for “unethical conduct”, which was adopted by a voice vote.
Born in Assam’s Cachar district in 1974, Mahua Moitra’s got her early education in Kolkata and then went to the United States for higher studies. Initially an investment banker with JP Morgan Chase in New York and London, Moitra’s trajectory shifted dramatically after being inspired by Rahul Gandhi’s “Aam Admi Ka Sipahi” initiative.
She left her high-profile banking career in London to join the youth wing of the Congress in 2009 and was assigned to the West Bengal unit. As part of the Congress youth wing, Moitra worked closely with Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee.
Winds of change in West Bengal against the Left Front regime led Moitra and Mukherjee to switch to the TMC just days before the 2010 Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, in which the Mamata Banerjee-led party triumphed.
After missing out on a party ticket for the 2011 assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mahua Moitra made her electoral debut in the 2016 assembly polls, securing victory in Karimpur constituency. Although not included in the state cabinet, her eloquent speeches and debating skills made her a prominent spokesperson for the party in the national media.
In 2019, she clinched the Lok Sabha ticket from Krishnanagar and won also.
(With PTI inputs)
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