BJP’s Barabanki MP opts out of Lok Sabha race after ‘obscene’ video surfaces 

BJP MP Upendra Singh Rawat denies obscene video allegations, requests J.P. Nadda to investigate, vows not to contest elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Barabanki Upendra Singh Rawat, whose alleged obscene video went viral on Monday, declared that he will not contest any election in public life until proven innocent, and urged party president J. P. Nadda to investigate the video. Mr. Rawat, whose name was declared on March 2 in the first list of 51 Lok Sabha candidates from Uttar Pradesh, alleged the video had been generated by deep fake artificial intelligence (AI) technology, for which he has lodged a First Information Report (FIR).

“An edited video of mine generated by deep fake AI technology is being made viral, for which I have lodged an FIR. In this regard, I have requested the honorable BJP national president to get it investigated. I will not contest any election in public life until I am proven innocent,” Mr. Rawat posted on social media platform X. 

After Mr. Rawat’s renomination as the BJP candidate, the purported video, allegedly showing him in a compromising position with a woman, went viral over the past 36 hours.

The Barabanki MP alleged that it had been made public after he had been renominated in an attempt to tarnish his image. “As soon as Mr. Rawat got the party’s ticket from Barabanki, his opponents did this act, the video is completely doctored. I hope the accused will be identified soon,” reads the petition lodged by the MP’s supporter, Dinesh Chandra Rawat, at the Kotwali Police Station. 

Mr. Rawat, won from the Barabanki (Scheduled Caste) reserved seat by over 1,10,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, defeating the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Ram Sagar Rawat. Mr. Upendra Singh Rawat was earlier elected as an MLA from Zaidpur in Barabanki in the 2017 State Assembly election.