Historical action, 11 MPs expelled

Parliamentary history was created today when both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha expelled 11 MPs for misconduct in accepting money for raising questions in the face of severe oppposition from BJP and its allies over the procedure.

In a precedent-setting decision in over 50 years, the two houses, acting swiftly on the recommendations of the committees that went into the 'cash-for-query' scam exposed by a sting operation on a news channel, adopted motions for their expulsion, and said their conduct was "unethical" and "unbecoming" of MPs and their continuance "untenable".

Ten of the 11 MPs, who were not present in the proceedings today, belonged to the Lok Sabha. Of them, fivebelonged to BJP, three to BSP and one each to Congress and RJD. The lone Rajya Sabha member also belonged to BJP, which interestingly did not press for division during voting.

There has only been one case of expulsion for a similar misconduct in 1951 when the provincial Parliament removed H G Mudgal for accepting money from Bombay bullion traders for doing their work in the Parliament. His resignation was not accepted.

The 10 expelled Lok Sabha members are Annasaheb M K Patil, Y G Mahajan, Suresh Chandel, Pradeep Gandhi and Chandra Pratap Singh (all BJP), Narendra Kumar Kushwaha, Lal Chandra Kol and Rajaram Pal (all BSP), Manoj Kumar (RJD) and Ramsevak Singh (Congress).

The motion, moved by leader of the house Pranab Mukherjee, was adopted by a voice vote after the leader of the opposition, L K Advani, led a walkout of his party and some allies, saying he could not associate himself with the expulsion which was disproportionate to their offence.