Cash-For-Query Case: Lok Sabha Ethics Panel Report On Mahua Moitra To Be Tabled Today. 10 Points

Cash-For-Query Case: The case pertains to the allegations levelled by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey that Mahua Moitra received bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group.

Cash-For-Query Case: The parliamentary ethics committee is set to present its report on the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The case pertains to the allegations levelled by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey that Moitra received bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group. Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to make these allegations.

If presented, the committee is expected to recommend Moitra's expulsion from parliament. As per the agenda documents released by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ethics Committee head Vinod Kumar Sonkar will lay the panel's maiden report on the table of the House.

Speaking on the matter, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, "Today I spoke with the Speaker, and he said that this committee report along with other reports will be tabled tomorrow. I said that TMC MP Mahua Moitra should be given a chance to speak," ANI quoted him as saying. Speaking on the stance of the BJP, MP Dilip Ghosh said, "Everything will be done according to the procedure of the Parliament". 

Here Are 10 Points: 

• During the meeting on November 9, the committee accepted its findings, which recommended Moitra's ouster from the Lok Sabha due to the "cash-for-query" accusation.


• The panel, comprising six members, voted in support of the report against Moitra, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur, who had previously been suspended from the party. Four panel members from opposition parties provided dissent notes.


• The members of the opposition labelled the report a "fixed match." The opposition said that the complaint made by Nishikant Dubey, which was analysed by the panel, was not supported by a "shred of evidence."


• According to Nishikant Dubey, who filed a complaint with the Lokpal, Moitra was accused of collecting payments to raise issues in Parliament.


• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began an investigation into charges against Moitra after receiving a referral from anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.


• Moitra claimed that neither Lokpal nor the CBI had posted any referral orders on their websites in accordance with the Lokpal Act. "Hope the Rs 13,000 crore Adani coal scam merits CBI PE before my witchhunt," she posted on X.


• Initially, the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee had requested Mahua Moitra to appear on October 31. However, Moitra had sought a hearing date after November 5 due to prior commitments. Her request for an extension beyond November 2 was denied.


• The TMC MP and other opposition MPs walked out of the ethics committee meeting on November 2, questioning the meeting's conduct. In response, the committee asserted that Moitra had not cooperated and left to evade further questioning.


• Moitra had stressed her demand to be allowed to cross-examine businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who is accused of providing bribes to her.


• In October, during an interview with India Today, Moitra admitted that she gave her Parliament login ID and password to Hiranandani to get someone to type the questions to be asked in the Lok Sabha. She further stated that after putting the question in, an OTP (one-time password) comes to her mobile phone, and the question gets submitted only after she gives the OTP.