LUCKNOW: Sitting BJP MP Upendra Singh Rawat, who has been repeated by the party in the Barabanki constituency for the upcoming polls, opted out of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday amid the ongoing controversy over a viral video calling it fake.
“An edited video of mine is being made viral which is generated by DeepFake AI technology. I have lodged an FIR in this connection,” Rawat said in a social media post.
“In this regard, I have requested the Honorable National President of the party (BJP) to get it thoroughly investigated. I shall not contest any election in public life until I am proven innocent,” he posted in Hindi.
In the video that went viral soon after Rawat was named as the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Barabanki, a man is seen in an objectionable position with a woman.
Based on a complaint by the MP's personal secretary Dinesh Chandra Rawat, police lodged an FIR against an unidentified accused under Section 419 and 501 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with relevant sections of the IT Act.
The FIR claims that the video was manipulated by his opponents to damage the reputation and dent the credibility of the MP following the announcement of his candidature from Barabanki for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Rawat claimed that as soon as he got the ticket from Barabanki, his opponents made the ‘fake’ and ‘doctored’ video viral. “The police have started the investigation and everything will be clear in a day or two. Totally seven such videos have come to my notice. It is an effort to tarnish my image,” said Rawat.
Rawat was given the ticket from the Barabanki constituency in 2019 after sitting MP Priyanka Rawat was overlooked.