"Censure And Restrain Rahul Gandhi's Lies": BJP To Election Commission

The BJP has said the Election Commission must "reprimand, censure, and restrain" Rahul Gandhi from "handing out lies during campaigning" for next week's Maharashtra election.

The ruling party called on the poll panel to act against the Congress MP for "gross violation" of the Model Code of Conduct, referring to a section of speech in Mumbai last week; in a written complaint to the EC Monday afternoon, the BJP said Mr Gandhi had "falsely accused other states of stealing and snatching alleged opportunities from the State of Maharashtra".

"We told them Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi spoke lies in Maharashtra... he said BJP wants to crush the Constitution," Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who led the saffron party delegation that met top election officials, said.

The reference was to Mr Gandhi's "totally unverified claims... that Apple's iPhones and Boeing's airplanes are being manufactured in other states at the expense of Maharashtra". The BJP declared that Rahul Gandhi had made such statements even after being served a notice.

"... in fact, the State of Maharashtra has topped in FDI (foreign direct investment) across India by receiving a total of Rs 70,795 crore from April to June 2024-25," the BJP told the EC, "Rahul Gandhi, with his statements, is inciting youth of Maharashtra, which is immensely dangerous."

"As only expected, and in line with his typical pattern of campaigning and general conduct, Rahul Gandhi's speech was full of falsehood and lies, intending to create disaffection, enmity, and ill-will between states of the Union of India... Rahul Gandhi wished to create a divide between the people of Maharashtra and other states," the ruling party alleged in its notice.

"He has been consistently making false, unverified, and baseless allegations against the BJP... solely to achieve electoral gains in the election in Maharashtra," the BJP complained.

The BJP referred to the EC's March 1 advisory - issued before the April-June general election - in which it all political leaders were urged to "observe utmost restraint and decency in election campaigns, and to raise the level of election campaigning to 'issue' based debates".

Political parties and their leaders "shall not make false statements, or utterances without factual basis, aimed at misleading the voters", the BJP said, reminding the EC of its notice.

Such advisories have "little or no effect on the Congress and its leadership and star campaigners, and the electoral violations continue unabated", the BJP said, calling on the poll panel to direct a police case be filed against Mr Gandhi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.