Calcutta: Congress legislator Shyamdas Banerjee was stripped of his membership on Friday by the West Bengal Assembly for submitting fake medical claims.

The House, following a debate on the motion brought by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prabodh Chandra Sinha, resolved that Banerjee had disqualified himself to be a member as he had willfully attempted to defraud the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 165,500,30 by submitting two fabricated medical bills.

''His conduct is damaging to the dignity of the House and inconsistent with the standards which this legislature is entitled to expect from its members,'' it observed.

The motion was brought in following an inquiry committee report. The committee, constituted last year to probe Banerjee's medical claims, found the bills in the names of his wife and mother fake.

The House, participating in the debate in the absence of Opposition Congress, Trinamool Congress and BJP members, who had earlier walked out in protest against Thursday's massacre of 11 people in Birbhum, supported the motion.

UNI