A day after the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha recommended the expulsion of Mahua Moitra in its report on the ‘cash-for-query’ allegations, the Trinamool Congress MP said that she considered the indictment a “badge of honour” and tore into the panel’s probe while also questioning its jurisdiction.

“Proud to go down in parliamentary history as (the) first person to be unethically expelled by Ethics Committee whose mandate doesn’t include explusion,” Mahua tweeted this morning. Mahua, who faces disqualification over allegations that she accepted bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and shared her Lok Sabha login credentials with him to facilitate questions by him on her behalf.

Also Read: Lok Sabha ethics panel adopts report on ‘cash-for-query’ charge against Mahua Moitra

Mahua has claimed throughout that she did not accept any bribe while admitting that she shared her login details with the said businessman. Casting aspersions on the way the ethics panel of the Lok Sabha conducted the inquiry against her, Moitra claims that she has not been given a fair chance to put across her defence. Her demand to cross-examine Hiranandani as well as advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, the individual who sent the complaint to the CBI.

“First expel and THEN ask government to ask CBI to find evidence. Kangaroo court, monkey business from start to finish,” Mahua tweeted on Friday.

On Thursday, the ethics panel led by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar adopted the report on the cash-for-query allegation against Moitra. While the six members voted in favour of the adoption of the report, four members voted against it. Five Opposition MPs are learnt to have submitted dissent notes against the adoption of the report recommending Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha.

Also Read: Ethics Committee probe in Mahua Moitra case ‘fixed match’ by a ‘kangaroo court’: Opposition

The Opposition members have alleged that the panel carried out its probe in “unseemly haste” and framed Moitra “purely for political reasons”.

“The alleged bribe-giver Mr Hiranandani is a key player in this case, having given a vague ‘suo motu’ affidavit with no details. Without the oral evidence and cross-examination of Mr Hiranandani as demanded by Ms Moitra in writing and indeed as demanded by the law of a fair hearing, this enquiry process is a farce and a proverbial ‘kangaroo court’,” The Indian Express quoted one of the dissent notes as saying.

The dissenting MPs also dismissed the allegation that Moitra compromised national security by sharing her login credentials with Hiranandani, pointing to the absence of rules in this regard. They also argued that there was no scope of any unsupervised access as the OTP required to file a question came to her phone/laptop/iPad.

“Moitra has already said she used only typing services for her questions from Hiranandani’s office and the OTP came to her iPad/laptop/phone – thus there was no scope for any unsupervised access. The charge of national security is patently absurd. If the NIC portal is so secret then rules should have been framed and access from foreign IP addresses should have been blocked,” they said.

The report adopted by the ethics committee has been sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker. It is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament scheduled to begin on December 4.