“Totally unverified claims… that Apple’s iPhones and Boeing’s aeroplanes are being manufactured in other states at the expense of Maharashtra” were cited by the BJP as being made by Mr. Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi is “handing out lies during campaigning” for the Maharashtra election next week, and the BJP has called for the Election Commission to “reprimand, censure, and restrain” him from doing so.
Referring to a passage of speech given in Mumbai last week, the ruling party urged the poll panel to take action against the Congress MP for “gross violation” of the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP said in a written complaint to the EC on Monday afternoon that Mr. Gandhi had “falsely accused other states of stealing and snatching alleged opportunities from the State of Maharashtra.”
“We informed 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
“Totally unverified claims… that Apple’s iPhones and Boeing’s aeroplanes are being manufactured in other states at the expense of Maharashtra” was the reference to Mr. Gandhi. Even after receiving a notice, Rahul Gandhi continued to make such remarks, according to the BJP.
The BJP told the EC that Rahul Gandhi’s remarks are inciting the youth of Maharashtra, which is extremely dangerous. “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 said.
Rahul Gandhi’s speech was full of lies and falsehoods, as was to be expected and consistent with his usual campaigning and general behaviour style. The speech’s goal was to sow discord, animosity, and ill will among the states that make up the Union of India. In its notice, the ruling party claimed that Rahul Gandhi wanted to drive a wedge between Maharashtra’s citizens and those of other states.
The BJP protested, “He has been continuously making baseless, unsubstantiated, and false accusations against the BJP… only to achieve electoral gains in the election in Maharashtra.”
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” in the EC’s March 1 advisory, which was issued prior to the April-June general election. The BJP cited this advice.
Reminding the EC of its warning, the BJP stated that political parties and their leaders “shall not make false statements or utterances without factual basis, aimed at misleading the voters.”
The BJP called on the poll panel to order that a police case be brought against Mr. Gandhi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, claiming that such advisories have “little or no effect on the Congress and its leadership and star campaigners, and the electoral violations continue unabated.”