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Embattled MP expelled from Labour Party

Author
RNZ,
Publish Date
Thu, 20 Oct 2022, 10:28am

Embattled MP expelled from Labour Party

Author
RNZ,
Publish Date
Thu, 20 Oct 2022, 10:28am

The New Zealand Council, Labour’s governing body, has expelled Gaurav Sharma from the party.

Labour Party president Claire Szabó says the council found Dr Sharma had brought the party into disrepute.

Yesterday, Labour confirmed it investigated Sharma’s conduct and recommended he be expelled from the party.

Sharma resigned from Parliament earlier this week, forcing a by-election in the Hamilton West electorate.

Labour released this statement:

“Labour’s New Zealand Council has expelled Gaurav Sharma from the party. The Council took this decision because it found Gaurav Sharma had brought the party into disrepute,” says Labour President Claire Szabó.

The relevant timeline, much of which has already been publicised by Gaurav, is:

An investigation has taken place into a complaint the Labour Party received from the Labour CaucusGaurav has participated actively in that investigation and provided oral and written accounts of his perspective, both to the investigating panel and to the full New Zealand Council.

The investigation recommended that Gaurav should be expelled from the party for bringing the party into disrepute.

When we communicated with Gaurav on Saturday 15 October, he said he had recently experienced a bereavement in his wider whanau - which he had also noted on his Facebook page. On that basis, Gaurav requested extra time to document his perspective on our investigation. We agreed to his request on compassionate grounds, and gave him an additional opportunity to present any documentation he wished.That window closed yesterday, and we received no further documentation from Gaurav.

New Zealand Council met this morning and made the decisions outlined above.

Gaurav’s expulsion is immediate.

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