AAP, BJP Share Edited Visuals & Deepfake Videos Ahead of 2025 Delhi Elections
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Delhi, political parties have been campaigning to appeal to voters in the nation’s capital. From poll promises, speeches, and targeting other parties on social media, parties are leaving no stone unturned to gear up for these elections.
Amid these preparations, deepfakes have been the newest plaything for political parties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released audio spoofs targeting the Congress and the National Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) before the 2024 Maharashtra polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) shared an AI-generated video showing party leader Arvind Kejriwal being “blessed” by BR Ambedkar, and so on.
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In the same vein, both parties have used this technology for the 2025 Delhi polls too. On 29 December, BJP Delhi’s X (formerly Twitter) account shared a video which leaned into a meme from web series ‘Panchayat’, morphing the video to target AAP and its policies in Delhi.
Their clip shows two of the series’ regulars criticising different schemes under AAP’s leadership in Delhi, calling out irregularities surrounding their mahila samman scheme, which recently came under scrutiny over charges of allegedly collecting data from the scheme ‘illegally’.
Referring to Kejriwal as ‘maha thug’ (great thug), the characters speak similarly about another initiative called the Sanjeevani yojana.
ई तो गजबे फ्रॉड हो रहा है 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/ErWOlcW295
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) December 29, 2024
Though the video was watermarked with ‘spoof’, these deepfakes could easily mislead people. TrueMedia’s AI detection tool mentioned that it found substantial evidence of the clip being altered.
The audio in this clip was substantially manipulated. (Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
We also ran the video through Bengaluru-based AI startup Contrails.AI's AI-generated content detection tool, whose analysis gave the video and audio low confidence ratings.
It detected manipulation in both audio and video elements. (Source: Contrails.AI/Screenshot)
The original clip taken from the web series has nothing to do with politics. In the show, two characters — Bhushan and Binod — talk about constructing toilets in their village and how the process has been slow due to bureaucratic red tape.
We found the clip on Amazon Prime’s YouTube channel, which starts at the 1:49-minute mark here.
Countering this, the AAP, too, took a page from BJP’s playbook and shared an altered video from the same web series, making it appear as though the show’s characters spoke highly of living in Delhi and receiving government subsidies, such as free water, “world-class” education and free healthcare.
Hum Delhi se hain…. 😎👇#Spoof pic.twitter.com/VUI5FFdrYc
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) December 29, 2024
The original video, also found on Amazon Prime’s YouTube channel, shows the show’s characters talking about the town where it is set, Phulera, making several references to plot points and conflict in the show. It does not mention Delhi at all.
Contrails.AI's tool did not detect manipulation in the video element of this clip, but found that the audio was fake.
The report said that the audio was fake. (Source: Contrails.AI/Screenshot)
TrueMedia found this video to be substantially manipulated as well.
The tool found the language of the video to be suspicious. (Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
The AAP has previously shared altered videos targeting the BJP, with its Seelampur wing’s Facebook page recently sharing one which shows Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi speaking against the party.
The Quint found that the audio in the clip had been edited using AI, and that the original video shows an awareness campaign against UPI-based scams.
The video was altered to include anti-BJP messaging. (Source: The Quint)
The need for media literacy has been important and is now an essential skill, to avoid falling for misleading and false information, along with propaganda. Watch our short video on the impact of deepfakes and how you can try to identify them.
(This story was originally published by thequint, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
