Mahua Moitra expelled from Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra was on Friday expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the 'cash for query' that was tabled in the Lower House today.

 The opposition staged a walkout after the Lok Sabha adopted the motion to expel the TMC MP. The House was then adjourned till December 11.

Speaker Om Birla said, "...This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra's conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP..."

The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner".

"The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report read.

Mahua Moitra, who was not allowed to speak during the discussion inside the House, the Trinamool leader read out her statement outside the Lok Sabha.

Amid the heated debate on 'Cash for Query' in the Lok Sabha today, Speaker Om Birla said that the House has the tradition that the traditions followed by the previous Speakers are always followed by the next Speakers.

"I have a copy of the traditions that were followed earlier. Former Speakers Somnath Chatterjee and Pranab Mukherjee were here earlier. The rules and traditions that they gave are considered our rules. Somnath Chatterjee had said that the Members against whom there are accusations are given ample time to speak before the Committee. This House has the tradition that the traditions followed by the previous Speakers are always further followed by the next Speakers," Om Birla said in the Lok Sabha.

(With ANI inputs)