TMC MP Mahua Moitra asked to vacate official residence in 30 days

Mahua Moitra has been sent notice to vacate her official residence. The former MP and Trinamool Congress leader has challenged her suspension from Lok Sabha in a plea filed before the Supreme Court. Mahua, who was ousted from the Parliament last week over the cash-for-query allegations against her, has been asked to vacate her official residence within the next 30 days. The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, on 8 December, had tabled its report in the Lower House in which it was stated that the panel had found her guilty of jeopardising national security by sharing her parliamentary portal’s login details with businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The TMC MP’s expulsion was recommended by the panel on the basis of Hiranandani’s affidavit saying she accepted bribes to ask his questions targeting the Adani Group. “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. On Friday, Mahua said the ethics panel didn’t have the power to expel her and also claimed that there was no evidence of her accepting cash from the businessman, which was the main accusation levelled by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and her ex-partner Jai Anant Dehadrai. The TMC MP also claimed that she wasn’t allowed to cross-examine Hiranandani and Dehadrai. In November, ethics panel had recommended Mahua’s expulsion, soon after a meeting with her in which she accused the panel’s chief of asking her inappropriate questions.