Most Members of Parliament expelled from the Parliament have been from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A total of 17 MPs have been expelled from both houses of the Parliament cumulatively, the recent being the All-India Trinamool Congress politician Mahua Moitra. Of these 17 people, eight were members of the BJP at the time of expulsion.
The list of these seven BJP MPs includes Chhatarpal Singh Lodha, Annasaheb MK Patil, Chandra Pratap Singh, Pradeep Gandhi, Suresh Chandel, YG Mahajan, Babubhai Katara, and Sakshi Maharaj. All of them, except Katara and Maharaj, were mass-expelled in 2005 in a cash-for-query case. The reason for Moitra’s expulsion is also similar. Apart from them, BJP politician Subramanian Swamy also was expelled from the Rajya Sabha in 1976, when he was an MP of the erstwhile Janata Party.
In 2005, three Bahujan Samaj Party MPs — Narender Kumar Kushwaha, Lal Chandra Kol, and Raja Rampal — were also expelled from the Lok Sabha, following the cash-for-query incident, where the MPs were accused of accepting cash for asking questions in Parliament. A few other prominent people expelled from Parliament include former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978 and fugitive Vijay Mallya.
Disqualification
A member of either of the house of Parliament can be expelled or disqualified, based on incidents that lead to it. “While an expelled member can contest the elections again and get re-elected as an MP in the next term, a disqualified MP can’t do so,” says political analyst and lawyer A Jayashankar.
While the reasons for an MP’s disqualification can include mental unsoundness and getting convicted in a criminal case, Jayashankar notes that acquittal can help them regain their MP seat. Case in point, when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was disqualified earlier this year after he was convicted by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case. However, the Lok Sabha Secretariat restored his membership, after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction four months later.
Another prominent case of disqualification happened in 2013 after former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after being convicted in the fodder scam.
Suspended MPs
Apart from expulsions and disqualifications, MPs can also be suspended from Parliament owing to various reasons, including violating the directions of the chair and sloganeering. Data from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha show that 154 MPs have been suspended in the last 10 years. This number also includes multiple suspensions of the same MP.
For instance, Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien, Elamaram Kareen and Dola Sen have been suspended thrice since 2020. In the Lok Sabha, Congress’ Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has faced suspensions multiple times in his current tenure.
“Parliament usually suspends MPs when they obstruct its proceedings. Suspension does not impact an MP’s membership of their respective House. In egregious cases, a House may also expel an MP. This results in the MP losing their seat in Parliament but does not prevent them from contesting elections.” said Chakshu Roy, Head of Legislative and Civic Engagement, PRS Legislative Research.
Moitra was expelled last week after the Parliamentary Ethics Committee indicted her for accepting cash, amenities, and other facilities from Dubai-based business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani for providing access to her official mail for posing self-enrichment commercial queries in Parliament.