Ethics panel report on Moitra listed for tabling in LS today

NEW DELHI: A report of the Ethics Committee which recommended the expulsion of TMC MP Mahua Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case is listed for tabling in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The report was earlier listed in the agenda of the lower house for December 4 but was not tabled.

The revised list of business for Friday issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat has listed the Ethics Committee report as agenda item number 7.

Various opposition members have insisted that there should be a discussion on the recommendations before a decision is taken on Moitra.

"If the report is tabled, we would insist on a full-fledged discussion as the draft was adopted in two-and-a-half minute," BSP MP Danish Ali told reporters on Thursday.

At a meeting on November 9, the committee headed by Vinod Kumar Sonkar adopted its report recommending Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha over the "cash-for-query" allegation.

Six members of the panel, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur who had earlier been suspended from the party, voted in favour of the report. Four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes.

The opposition members termed the report a "fixed match" and said the complaint filed by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey, which the panel reviewed, was not supported by a "shred of evidence".

Moitra can be expelled only if the House votes in favour of the panel's recommendation.

The Winter Session of Parliament began on Monday and is scheduled to continue till December 22.