Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked BJP leaders to refrain from making “irresponsible” statements, saying such comments hurt the party’s image. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar/File) Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked BJP leaders to refrain from making “irresponsible” statements, saying such comments hurt the party’s image. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar/File)

The Associaltion for democratic reforms (ADR) and National Elections Watch (NEW) have analysed that BJP has the most number of declared cases related to hatespeech, a PTI report said. As of now, a total of 58 curremt MPs and MLAs are in the list of which BJP has 27 lawmakers.

“15 sitting Lok Sabha MPs have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves. None of the Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to hate speech,” a report by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

According to the report, ten sitting Lok Sabha MPs with such declared cases are from BJP, and one each from AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front), TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), PMK (Paattali Makkall Katchi), AIMIM and SHS (Shiv Sena), it said.

Political leaders such as Uma Bharati, Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) and Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF) are a few among the other leaders, the report added. There are 43 sitting MLAs who have declared hate speech cases.

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The ADR has analysed self-sworn affidavits of all sitting MPs and MLAs. It is based on the affidavits submitted by the candidates and MPs/MLAs prior to the last election they contested.

Uttar Pradesh has 15 MPs, MLAs with declared cases related to hate speech, followed by Telangana (13), Karnataka (5) and Maharashtra (5), among others.The report further said 11 sitting MLAs with such cases are from Telangana, four from Bihar, nine from Uttar Pradesh and four from Maharashtra. Besides, three MLAs each are from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, two each from Uttarakhand and West Bengal and one MLA each from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. ADR said it believes that strict action must be taken against the candidates giving hate speech prior and during elections, and against the elected legislators even after elections, if found guilty of indulging in hate speech.

The ADR also recommended that political parties must not give tickets to candidates who have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

“Cases against MPs and MLAs should be fast tracked and decided upon in a time bound manner,” ADR added.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked BJP leaders to refrain from making “irresponsible” statements, saying such comments hurt the party’s image.In the last five years, 198 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections for state assemblies, Lok/Rajya Sabha.

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