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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Sunil Gavaskar upset after not being invited to present BGT with Allan Border
Sydney, Jan 5: The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday expressed his displeasure after not being invited to present the trophy, named after him and Allan Border, to Australia following their win over India in the high-voltage five-match rubber.
Australia reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar trophy after 10 years with a six-wicket win over India in the fifth and final Test.
Border presented the trophy to the home team but Gavaskar, despite being at the venue at the same time, was inexplicably ignored.
"I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation. After all it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and it is about Australia and India," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Code Sports.
"I mean, I am here on the ground. To me it should not matter that Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played better cricket so they won. That's fine."
"Just because I am an Indian. I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border," he added.
Had the Indian team won the trophy, Gavaskar would have been invited to present it to the victorious side.
Cricket Australia (CA) later confirmed that Gavaskar was aware he would have presented the award to Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah if the tourists had won the Sydney Test and retained the trophy.
"We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage," a CA spokesperson said in a statement.
Both India and Australia have been competing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 1996-1997 and the rivalry has grown to become one of the biggest in Test cricket.
The five-match series that Australia won drew record crowds at multiple venues and broke an 87-year-old attendance record at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last week.
