JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar has filed a police complaint against Jan Suraj founder and Bankipur bypoll candidate Prashant Kishor for alleging that a campaign video of Nitish Kumar was AI-generated and a “deepfake”.
Event Context
The complaint was filed on Wednesday, a day before polling. The JD(U) leader accused Kishor of “disrespecting” the former Bihar chief minister.
The controversy began after a 57-second video released by the JD(U) on social media. It showed Nitish Kumar appealing to voters in Bankipur to support NDA candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha. In the video, Kumar spoke about the NDA government’s work over the past two decades and asked voters to back the BJP candidate.
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Neeraj Kumar accused Kishor of “insulting” the former chief minister and sought legal action. “We have submitted a complaint against Kishor at the Shastri Nagar police station. Just ahead of the Bankipur assembly by-election, Kishor, who is reportedly an affluent individual with assets worth more than ₹190 crore, has insulted the former CM,” he told PTI.
“He (Kishor) said an AI-generated video has been circulated. Has Nitish Kumar ever done anything artificial? Who has the audacity to create an artificial video of Nitish Kumar,” Neeraj Kumar said. The JD(U) leader asked the police to register a case under relevant legal provisions after an investigation.
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Addressing voters in the video, Nitish Kumar said, “My greetings to all of you, dear voters of the Bankipur assembly constituency. You know that a by-election is being held in your constituency, and voting is scheduled for July 30th. With your trust, support, and blessings, we have worked with complete honesty for two decades to implement development, good governance, justice, and progress.”
He also appealed, “To maintain this pace of development and fulfill the resolve of a developed Bihar, every single vote is crucial. All voters are requested to give their blessings to the young NDA candidate, Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sinha, and make him victorious by a landslide by pressing the button next to the lotus symbol on the day of voting. Namaskar.”
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Prashant Kishor, who is contesting the bypoll, rejected the video’s authenticity and alleged it had been created using artificial intelligence.
“The people of Bankipur have made up their minds, but today I want to tell you, the people of Bihar, the voters of Bankipur, one thing: a video of Nitish Kumar surfaced yesterday. The NDA issued a video appeal. That video is completely fake. It was created with the help of AI, and Nitish Babu has not made any such statement,” Kishor told reporters.
He further alleged that the BJP was panicking over the possibility of losing the election.
“The NDA… the condition of this BJP has become such that first they deployed 202 MLAs. Ministers, MPs. The entire government machinery. Nitish Kumar’s face has been removed from all government, non-government, and political posters in Bihar.”
Kishor added, “Now, fearing defeat, to enlist the help of Nitish Kumar… to enlist the support of Nitish Kumar’s supporters, a video of Nitish Kumar has been released, which is absolutely ridiculous. You should go and watch the video carefully, to see Nitish Kumar’s statement. It’s an AI doctored video. It’s not Nitish Kumar’s original video. It’s not Nitish Kumar’s statement.”
Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party on Wednesday also challenged the authenticity of Nitish Kumar’s campaign video, asking people to verify it using Google’s AI chatbot. In a post on X, the party said, “Take the video of Nitish Kumar released by BJP and put it on Google Gemini, asking, Is this video made with AI? See the answer for yourself.”
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