Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from Lok Sabha on Friday in cash for query case after the lower house voter in favour of her expulsion. The motion was put to vote by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla after the parliamentary ethics committee's report was tabled and discussed in parliament. The committee had recommended Moitra's expulsion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi proposed the acceptance of the ethics committee's report, which had determined the culpability of expelled TMC MP Mahua Moitra in the case.
Mahua Moitra was representing the Krishnanagar parliamentary constituency of West Bengal after winning the election in 2019.
This, however, is not the first instance of a member of parliament being expelled from either the lower or upper house. Here's the list of MPs who were expelled from parliament in the past:
1) HG Mudgal
The Congress MP, who was the first ever Indian MP to be expelled from parliament, faced compelled resignation from the Provisional Parliament on September 24, 1951, after being implicated in accepting compensation from a business association for submitting questions. Subsequently, a Parliament Committee, chaired by T.T. Krishnamachari and including members Professor K.T. Shah, Syed Nausherali, G. Durgabai, and Kashinathrao Vaidya, found him guilty, nearly resulting in his expulsion. The committee, formed on June 8, 1951, stemmed from a parliamentary motion following a debate in which Mudgal participated. Although he resigned before the voting on the expulsion motion, the House maintained that his actions warranted expulsion, deeming his resignation terms a contempt of the House, exacerbating the offense.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru defended the course of action, emphasising the need for clear and forceful expressions of the House's will in such matters to dispel doubts in the public mind.
2) Indira Gandhi:
Indira Gandhi's expulsion transpired through a resolution presented by the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai on December 14, 1978, and subsequently endorsed by the parliamentary vote. During the deliberations, she expressed her readiness to face jail term. When the resolution was subjected to a vote, 279 Members of Parliament supported it, while 138 opposed. Consequently, the Lok Sabha achieved the historic distinction of being the first legislative body to incarcerate a former Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi thus became the inaugural ex-Prime Minister to be charged with for a breach of privilege and contempt of the lower house in a democratic setup for the emergency imposed by her. Accompanying her, her associate R.K. Dhawan and former CBI director D. Sen were also confined to prison.
The Lok Sabha, however, rescinded her expulsion later.
3) Subramanian Swamy
Subramanian Swamy, a Jan Sangh leader at the time, faced expulsion from the Rajya Sabha during the Emergency in 1976. The parliamentary panel determined that Swamy's behavior was detrimental to the dignity of the House, leading to his removal from the Upper House in 1976.
4) Cash for query 2005: 10 Lok Sabha MPs expelled
In 2005, ten Lok Sabha members, namely Annasahed M K Patil, Y G Mahajan, Suresh Chandel, Pradeep Gandhi, and Chandra Pratap Singh (all from the BJP), Narendra Kumar Kushwaha, Lal Chandra Kol, and Rajaram Pal (all representing the BSP), along with Manoj Kumar (RJD) and Ramsevak Singh (Congress), faced expulsion. This action was taken after they were captured on camera accepting money in exchange for raising questions in the House.
5) Chhatrapal Singh Lodha
Chhatrapal Singh Lodha found himself embroiled in the 2005 cash-for-question scandal, where a sting operation called Operation Duryodhana, conducted by media firm Cobrapost, captured him accepting a bribe of 15,000 rupees (approximately US$350) on camera. Following these revelations, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, swiftly directed the Ethics Committee to investigate the allegations against Chhatrapal. Within 48 hours, the committee identified grounds for his suspension, leading to his expulsion from the Rajya Sabha.
6) Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya, an Independent Member of Parliament and liquor magnate embroiled in a Rs. 9,400 crore loan default case, submitted his resignation from the Rajya Sabha in 2016. This move came a day before the Ethics Committee of the Upper House was scheduled to propose his expulsion.
7) Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi, the ex-president of the Congress party and a legislator for 19 years, faced expulsion from Lok Sabha a day after a trial court in Surat finding him guilty of criminal defamation and imposing a two-year jail term for a statement he made before the 2019 national elections regarding the Modi surname. Gandhi's expuslion, however, was later stayed by the Supreme Court.
