New Delhi/IBNS: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged the Election Commission to "reprimand, censure, and restrain" Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from "handing out lies during campaigning" ahead of next week's Maharashtra election.

In a written complaint to the Election Commission on Monday, the ruling party cited a "gross violation" of the Model Code of Conduct by Rahul Gandhi, referring to a section of the speech in Mumbai last week.

The BJP said 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 BJP delegation to the EC office, told the media.

The complaint was about 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 claimed that 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 reportedly told the EC, adding "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 available to the media.

"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 alleged.

The BJP referred to the EC's March 1 advisory in which it asked all political leaders to "observe utmost restraint and decency in election campaigns, and to raise the level of election campaigning to 'issue' based debates".

Maharashtra goes to polls on November 20.