Senior TMC leader and MP Mahua Moitra on Friday sought more time to appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee in connection with the ongoing cash-for-query row. She was scheduled to appear before the panel on October 31.

Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the cash-for-query allegations against her, Moitra also claimed that the summons notice, complaints, and affidavits were disseminated to the media before the official letter was emailed to her.

Also Read:Cash-for-query row: TMC leader Mahua Moitra summoned by Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha on October 31

On Thursday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey told the Ethics Committee that it was an “open and shut” case and Moitra should be disqualified.

Taking to her official account on X, Moitra stated, “The Chairman of the Ethics Committee announced my summons for October 31 on live TV before the official letter was emailed to me at 19:20 hrs. All complaints and affidavits were also released to the media. I anticipate testifying immediately after my scheduled constituency programs conclude on November 4.”

Also Read:NIC should release details of all MPs’ login locations: Mahua Moitra hits back at Nishikant Dubey

She also shared a letter addressed to the committee chairperson, explaining her unavailability due to post-Vijay Dashami gatherings in her constituency in West Bengal’s Nadia district until November 4, and requested a date and time after November 5.

Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai on Thursday provided “oral evidence” to the committee against the Trinamool Congress MP. The committee’s chairperson, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, indicated that they would seek assistance from the ministries of Home Affairs and IT to investigate the allegations.

In a letter addressed to Committee chairman Vinod Sonkar, Moitra expressed her concern that the Committee summoning and hearing the statements of complainants, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, before hearing hers, the “alleged accused,” was “against the natural order of justice.”

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which initiated the examination of the cash-for-query allegations against Moitra on Thursday, heard Dubey and Dehadrai for over two hours.

The committee also decided to contact the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs to obtain all communication and conversations between Moitra, industrialist Darshan Hiranandani, and Dehadrai. This decision was made after hearing the oral evidence presented by Dehadrai and Dubey on Thursday.

Committee chairman and BJP MP Vinod Sonkar later informed reporters that Moitra had been summoned to appear before the panel on October 31.

(With PTI Inputs)