Mahua Moitra Row: Expulsion Vs Suspension | When 10 LS MPs Were Expelled the Same Day...

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra was on Friday expelled 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 interest.

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. Moitra equated the action with hanging by a “kangaroo court" and alleged a parliamentary panel was being weaponised by the government to force the opposition into submission. She told reporters that she has been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist and that there was no evidence of cash or gift given to her.

A look at the difference between expulsion and suspension of MPs:

SUSPENSION: ALL ABOUT THE ETHICS AND PRIVILEGES COMMITTEES

Formed in 2000, the ethics committee looks at moral and ethical conduct of members and probes:

• Complaints filed against members of the House by other members
• Outsiders through a member or referred by the Speaker
• The Committee first conducts an inquiry before deciding on the probe. The panel sends the report to the Speaker, who then puts it forward in the House
• The panel has the discretion to define “ethical" action
• The privileges committee or special inquiry committee probes the grave accusations.

WHEN 11 MPs WERE EXPELLED ON ONE DAY…

Responding to the criticism over the action against Moitra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hina Gavit said, “During the UPA government in 2005, a report was presented and 10 Lok Sabha members were expelled on same day…"

Here’s how the action unfolded.

A sting operation conducted by online news site Cobrapost and aired on a private TV channel showed that 11 MPs accepted cash in exchange for raising questions in the Parliament.

In a vote on December 24, 2005, the Parliament decided to expel all 11 MPs. The resolution was introduced by Pranab Mukherjee, leader of the house in the Lok Sabha, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha. It was passed.

The accused MPs included six from the BJP, three from BSP, and one each from the RJD and Congress. They were Y G Mahajan (BJP), Chhatarpal Singh Lodha from the RS (BJP), Anna Saheb M K Patil (BJP), Manoj Kumar (RJD), Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP), Ram Sewak Singh (Congress), Narender Kumar Kushwaha (BSP), Pradeep Gandhi (BJP), Suresh Chandel (BJP), Lal Chandra Kol (BSP) and Raja Rampal (BSP).

LK Advani, leader of the Opposition at the time, walked out of the vote, calling it a “kangaroo court".

In January 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the Parliament’s decision to expel the MPs.

THE CONSTITUTION AND SC ON EXPULSION

The Article 101 of the Constitution gives only three grounds on which an MP’s seat can be vacated:

• Resignation
• Disqualification
• Continuous absence from the House for 60 sittings

2007: In Raja Rampal vs Speaker (see above), the SC upheld the power of Parliament to expel its members for breach of privilege by referring to Article 101 to include expulsion as grounds.

2010: In Amarinder Singh vs Special committee, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the SC said that the expulsion by the State Assembly was unconstitutional.

WHAT HAPPENED IN MAHUA’s CASE?

The Ethics Committee report found Moitra guilty of “unethical conduct" and contempt of the House by sharing her Lok Sabha credentials — User ID and Password of Lok Sabha Member’s Portal, with unauthorised persons which had an irrepressible impact on national security.

The motion moved by Joshi said that Moitra’s “conduct has further been found to be unbecoming as a member of parliament for accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest which is a serious misdemeanour and highly deplorable conduct" on her part.

Joshi urged the House to accept the recommendation and finding of the committee and “resolve that continuance of Mahua Moitra as member of Lok Sabha is untenable and she may be expelled from the membership of the Lok Sabha".

Trinamool Congress and other opposition members demanded that Moitra be allowed to put her views in the House, which was turned down by Speaker Om Birla citing past precedence. Birla observed that in 2005, the then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had in a directive disallowed 10 Lok Sabha members, who were involved in a ‘cash for questions’ scam, to speak in the House.

Joshi said in 2005 the then Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee had moved a motion to expel 10 members on the same day the report was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Earlier, Ethics Committee Chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar tabled the first report of the Committee on the complaint filed by BJP member Nishikant Dubey against Moitra.

WHAT NEXT?

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already filed a PE in the case. A PE is the precursor and formal enquiry into any matter for CBI to decide whether it wants to convert it into a regular case (a first information report) based on available evidence or close it. It will now formally take up the probe into the cash for query case.

WHAT IS SUSPENSION?

To ensure smooth proceedings and maintain order, the Presiding Officer — Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of Rajya Sabha — of the House has the power to force a Member to withdraw from the House.

In case of Lok Sabha

Rule Number 373 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business empowers a presiding officer to order an MP to withdraw during the remainder of the day’s sitting.

If they continue to disrupt despite repeated warnings, Rule 374 allows the Presiding officers to name the legislators. The House can then move a motion to suspend the MP for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.

Rule 374A , brought in in December 2001 to bypass the need to adopt a motion for suspension, allows the Speaker to name an MP, who will then automatically stand suspended for five days or the remaining part of the session, whichever is less. Provided that the House may, at any time, on a motion being made, resolve that such suspension be terminated.

In case of Rajya Sabha

Rule 255 of the Rajya Sabha allows the Chairman to direct any Member to withdraw immediately from the House for disorderly conduct.

Rule 256 allows the Chairman to name the members who disregard the authority of the Chair or abuse the rules. The House may then adopt a motion suspending the Member for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.

Unlike the Lok Sabha (under rule 374A), the Rajya Sabha cannot suspend its members without passing a motion.

While Article 122 of the Indian Constitution says parliamentary proceedings can’t be questioned by the judiciary, the courts have intervened in some cases. For example, in 2021, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to suspend 12 BJP MLAs for a year. The SC held the resolution was ineffective beyond the remainder of the Monsoon session.

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE SUSPENDED?

• Suspended members cannot enter the chamber or attend the meetings of the committees
• He/she is not be eligible to give notice for discussion or submission
• He/she loses the right to get a reply to their questions.

A CASE IN POINT

The suspension of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP, Raghav Chadha, was revoked on Monday, on the first day of the Parliament’s Winter Session. Chadha’s suspension was revoked by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the motion moved by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao.

The AAP MP was suspended from Rajya Sabha on August 11. Chadha, who was accused by the BJP of forging the signatures of five MPs, was suspended from the Rajya Sabha by Dhankhar, on the last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

With PTI Inputs