New Delhi: The battle for votes in Maharashtra and Jharkhand has taken a sharp turn, with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ) and Congress accusing each other of violating the Model Code of Conduct and resorting to misinformation during election campaigns.
The BJP filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) on Monday demanding action against Leader of Opposition (LoP) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for making “false accusations” against other states during a recent campaign speech in Mumbai last week.
The BJP claims Gandhi “falsely accused” other states of stealing opportunities from Maharashtra by manufacturing Apple iPhones and Boeing aeroplanes. They have called for the EC to “reprimand, censure, and restrain” Gandhi from spreading “lies during campaigning.”
The BJP delegation, led by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, also demanded police action against Gandhi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for allegedly making false claims about the BJP’s intentions to crush the Constitution. “We told them Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi spoke lies in Maharashtra… he said BJP wants to crush the Constitution,” Meghwal said.
earlier on Sunday, the Congress also filed a complaint against the BJP for a video advertisement in Jharkhand that allegedly makes false and defamatory allegations against JMM, Congress, RJD leaders, including that they were anti-tribals.
The video, posted on the BJP Jharkhand unit’s Facebook page, features actors resembling Rahul Gandhi, Hemant Soren, Kalpana Soren, and Tejashwi Yadav making comments that Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh claims are “blatantly false.” “One of the allegations is that these leaders are ‘anti-adivasi’ (against the tribals) who are banding together under the garb of being pro-adivasis to ultimately serve their own personal agendas,” Ramesh wrote.
The video, according to Ramesh, falsely accuses the leaders of being “anti-adivasi” and uses derogatory language to portray them as corrupt and self-serving. Both parties have accused each other of using unethical tactics to sway voters.
