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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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
