Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Even as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress “royal family” of using the party-ruled states as the bank ATM (Automated Teller Machines) to collect funds, the BJP on Monday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India against the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for misleading the voters by making “false propaganda” that some of the BJP-ruled states were thriving at the cost of Maharashtra.
The ruling party in its written complaint submitted on Monday evening even demanded the ECI to file police complaints against Mr Gandhi and the Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge for “spreading falsehood.”
The BJP told the ECI that it 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. It 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. 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 ₹ 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 urged all political leaders 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 Mr Kharge.
In Jharkhand, the Ranchi police on a direction from the ECI lodged an FIR and also asked the social media platforms to remove some “false and misleading” videos posted by the Jharkhand BJP. The complaint against the BJP posts were made by the Congress, the ECI sources said.
The Congress had written to the EC on Sunday alleging that a video that made “baseless” allegations was posted by the BJP’s Jharkhand unit on its social media accounts. The Congress alleged that the posts were trying to unduly influence voters in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections.
The FIR was filed by the Cyber Crime Police Station in Ranchi on Sunday for violating the Model Code of Conduct and extant legal provisions, an EC source said. The police also wrote to the social media platform to remove the posts under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act.
Meanwhile, the ECI on Monday rejected the allegations made by the Trinamool Congress of alleged inaction on its complaints claiming that it acted within 20 hours of receiving its complaints concerning the by-elections to six state Assembly seats in West Bengal.
In a response to TMC leader Derek O’Brien, the poll authority said it was “surprising” that even after the prompt action by the Commission “within 20 hours” of receipt of representation on November 9 afternoon, there has been “unwarranted comments of delay.” “As such, this Commission rejects your allegations regarding inaction and delayed response as completely baseless, devoid of facts and misleading. However, without further elaborating, you are most welcome to attend the meeting at 3.30 PM today, as already conveyed on November 10,” the poll authority said.
The Commission said the TMC’s request seeking appointment for a delegation to discuss issues relating to upcoming by-elections in West Bengal was received on November 8 at 5.17 pm by an email. “However, it did not mention any issues that were required to be discussed. A reminder of this request was received through email on November 9 at 9.57 AM.
“However, this also neither specified any issue nor enclosed any representation. While the Commission was waiting to receive the representation or to know the subject matter of the meeting, a delegation of AITC (All-India Trinamool Congress) came to the Commission office on November 9 and handed over two representations…,” the letter read.
“Acting promptly” on both the representations, the Commission directed the CEO of West Bengal to first address the urgent issue regarding force deployment, the EC response said.
It said the CEO, West Bengal convened the meeting of the State Level Force Deployment Committee along with State Police Nodal Officer (SPNO) and the State CAPF (central armed police force) Coordinator on November 10 — “within 20 hours” of receipt of TMC representation at the Commission’s office here.
“It was decided that each QRT (quick reaction team), including those led by company commander of CAPF, will include an ASI or SI level state police personnel. Directions have been issued by CEO accordingly to SPNO and State CAPF Coordinator on November 10 itself, much before your letter dated November 11,” the poll watchdog said. It said as regards the second matter relating to the alleged speech of Sukanta Majumdar, the Commission has issued a notice to him, the response noted.